Until recently, it wasn’t made from a “more complete grain” barley than pearl because of the expense and difficulty of getting off barley’s tough hull without taking the bran off with the hull. New hull-less varieties of barley are emerging, however, which eliminate the processing that would have been needed, while leaving the bran in place and giving a “more complete grain” flour than did pearl or pot barley.
Nutrition
Barley flour made from hull-less barley is high in good dietary fibre. As it doesn’t have the proteins necessary to create gluten, in making yeast-risen goods it should be used in combination with wheat flour, at a ratio of no more than 25% barley flour to wheat.