Using Vital Wheat Gluten in Bread Flour for Pizza Dough
High gluten pizza flour is pretty hard to find around here so I'm wondering if there is an easy adjustment to King Arthur's bread flour.
So if I wanted to raise the protein/gluten of KABF (12.7%) to make it more like their Sir Lancelot flour (14.2%), by adding vital wheat gluten to the flour, what do I need to keep in mind? I would be using "Kate's Naturals VWG" that is 77% protein.
- Just to make the math easy let's start with 100 grams of KABF. To match the Lancelot I would need to add 1.5 grams of protein.
-Since the VWG is only 77% protein I would need 1.95 grams of it to get the needed 1.5 grams of protein.
Is that it or are there other factors to consider when using VWG? The articles on the internet are conflicting on how protein and gluten is even supposed to be measured.
...
Drumlug,
Here's a simple formula to find the percentage of VWG to add:
VWG % to add = (Target Flour Protein % - Base Flour Protein %) / (VWG Protein % - Base Flour Protein %)
For your example:
Target Flour Protein % = 14.2
Base Flour Protein % = 12.7
VWG Protein % = 77
VWG % to add = ( 14.2 - 12.7) / ( 77 - 12.7)
= 1.5 / 64.3
= 0.0233 percent as a decimal
= 0.0233 * 100 = 2.33%
The formula has 100 grams of flour you would use 100g * 0.0233 = 2.33g of VWG and 100g - 2.33g = 97.67g of flour.
If interested, there is a chart listing various VWG% to add for various Base Flour Protein % and Target Flour Protein % shown on PizzaMaking.com site reply #33 here: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=4252.msg631245#msg631245.
Also, it's been stated that the Water Absorption Capacity of VWG is about 150%, so your hydration should consider that. See Bakerpedia link here: https://bakerpedia.com/processes/water-absorption/, and here: https://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/vital-wheat-gluten/.
Anton
I use a Pearson's Square formula to work this out. I have made a spreadsheet for it. Results: Flour 97.7%, VWG 2.3%.
Agrees with Anton's result.
Thanks for the info. I'm trying VWG in a pizza dough for the first time on Friday night. Using bread flour alone has worked out fine so far but I'm always super paranoid about ripping the dough when stretching
I see that you getting specific answers to your pizza questions on PizzaMaking.com now.
Good Luck.
Yeah I thought this one would cross over. It worked out great for a first attempt