Starch vs. Flour — What's the Difference?

Starch is often extracted and processed for various culinary applications.

Flour is often used as a base in baked goods.

Starch is a complex carbohydrate found in plants.

Flour is a powder made from grinding raw grains or roots.

Starch serves as an energy storage molecule for plants.

Flour is a staple in many cuisines around the world.

Starch is used as a thickening agent in many recipes.

Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods.

Starch can be modified for specific industrial applications.

A powder obtained by grinding grain, typically wheat, and used to make bread, cakes, and pastry.

Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage.

Sprinkle (something, especially a work surface or cooking utensil) with a thin layer of flour.

An odourless, tasteless white substance occurring widely in plant tissue and obtained chiefly from cereals and potatoes. It is a polysaccharide which functions as a carbohydrate store and is an important constituent of the human diet.

Grind (grain) into flour.

Powder or spray made from starch and used before ironing to stiffen fabric or clothing

A fine, powdery foodstuff obtained by grinding and sifting the meal of a grain, especially wheat, used chiefly in baking.

Stiffness of manner or character

Any of various similar finely ground or powdered foodstuffs, as of cassava, chickpeas, or bananas.

Stiffen (fabric or clothing) with starch

A soft, fine powder.

(of a boxer) defeat (an opponent) by a knockout

To cover or coat with flour.

A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice, and varying widely in appearance according to source but commonly prepared as a white amorphous tasteless powder.

To make into flour.

Any of various substances, such as natural starch, used to stiffen cloth, as in laundering.

Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, or other foodstuffs such as soybeans and potatoes, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry.

Starches Foods having a high content of starch, as rice, breads, and potatoes.

The food made by grinding and bolting cleaned wheat (not durum or red durum) until it meets specified levels of fineness, dryness, and freedom from bran and germ, also containing any of certain enzymes, ascorbic acid, and certain bleaching agents.

Stiff behavior

Powder of other material.

Vigor; mettle

Obsolete form of flower

To stiffen with starch.

(transitive) To apply flour to something; to cover with flour.

(uncountable) A widely diffused vegetable substance, found especially in seeds, bulbs and tubers, as extracted (e.g. from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) in the form of a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

(transitive) To reduce to flour.

Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.

(intransitive) To break up into fine globules of mercury in the amalgamation process.

(uncountable) A stiff, formal manner; formality.

The finely ground meal of wheat, or of any other grain; especially, the finer part of meal separated by bolting; hence, the fine and soft powder of any substance; as, flour of emery; flour of mustard.

(uncountable) Fortitude.

To grind and bolt; to convert into flour; as, to flour wheat.

(countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

To sprinkle with flour.

To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

Fine powdery foodstuff obtained by grinding and sifting the meal of a cereal grain

Stiff; precise; rigid.

Cover with flour;

Stiff; precise; rigid.

Convert grain into flour

A widely diffused vegetable substance found especially in seeds, bulbs, and tubers, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

Flour can vary in type based on its source or protein content.

Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.

Flour can also serve as a thickening agent in certain recipes.

To stiffen with starch.

A complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles

Stiffen with starch;

No, cornstarch is pure starch, while corn flour contains proteins and other components.

Wheat flour contains gluten, which provides structure in baked goods.

It depends on the recipe; while both can thicken, results may vary.

Starch is primarily used as a thickening agent in foods.

While both are carb-rich, pure starch has a higher carb concentration than most flours.

Yes, rice flour can thicken, but the consistency and result might vary from starch.

High-protein flours provide more gluten, which can give structure and chewiness to baked goods.

No, flour contains starch but has additional components like proteins.

Yes, many starches like potato and tapioca starch are gluten-free.

Starch is extracted by breaking down plant cells and then separating it from other components.

Yes, flours can be made from nuts, seeds, and even legumes.

Yes, while starch is mostly carbs, flour can contain proteins, fats, and vitamins/minerals.

No, only flours from gluten-containing grains like wheat have gluten.

Combining both can offer a desired texture or consistency in the final dish.

The bread may lack structure and be denser due to lower gluten content.