December 15, 2019 - 1:26am
Gluton
I have a Nutramill and have been baking for the last 3 years or so. 2 People now hve comitted that there is no gluton in my bread. They seem to be able to tell. One other source says gluton is developed by ageing the flour. Any commints?
For my bread i mix Hard Red and Einkorn, and use the flour as soon as it is ground. I proof the yeast and add an half an egg to help the lack of gluton. My dough is sticky but this seems to make the best bread easer to slice. The lack of gluton makes it weak and cakey but it is acceptable.
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Gluten is inherent in grain. Hard red spring wheat usually has enough for a loaf with good crumb development. However, a good crumb development depends on many things- not just the presence of gluten:
1.The ratio of liquid to flour (the percentage), how the resulting dough is handled (the amount of kneading, mixing-"gluten development")
2. The amount of time the flour is given to absorb the liquid ( an autolyse, overnight soak, use of a biga or pre-ferment, or even a double rise) ALL affect the crumb. Whole wheat, especially, needs time to soak and release the starches as well as develop the gluten inherent in the flour.
If these terms are unfamiliar to you, use the search box to find what it means and read about how to use the technique. Many of these terms are what you are probably already doing but are given a name so it is easier to ask questions here.
A recipe that includes the ingredients, amounts and the way they are handled is a good start to getting specific information and help.
Not exactly accurate. While the building blocks for gluten are inherent in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum - there are many grains (teff,amaranth,etc) that do no produce gluten.
Gluten is not "in the grain" rather gluten forms when glutenin attaches to gliadin. When flour made from grinding these grains is mixed with water the two proteins combine and form gluten.
Einkorn has a good flavour, but I don't think it has much gluten (or should that be "ability to develop gluten"? ;)) and it gives a sticky dough, so if used in quantities greater than say 20%, you may have issues.
Try a bake without it and see how that goes.
Lance
But I see no need to increase the gluton content. Yes it may taste better but so many have problems with Gluton i preffer to limit it.
I wrote to see if any others that grind just before they bake also find low gluton.
Also here is more.
https://kkopfler.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/effect-of-aging-wheat-flour-on-baked-product.pdf
Thanks for the responses.
Al