Wednesday, March 5, 2008
flour 101: how gluten works
What’s the big deal with the amount of gluten in flour? In general, higher gluten levels create stronger baked goods, like crusty breads and bagels, and lower gluten levels make softer baked goods, like tender cakes and biscuits. Knowing flours by their gluten levels, and not just their names, is helpful when you need to substitute one for another. You wouldn’t want to use cake flour to make bread, but you can get away with all-purpose if you’re in a jam.
I’ve been meaning to make a nice loaf of whole wheat bread recently. I found a site that lists the process step by step to create a crispy and chewy whole wheat loaf. They recommend using whole wheat flour and added wheat gluten. I bought the wheat gluten but I only have a huge bag of whole wheat pastry flour. Pastry flour is obviously better for crumbly goods, but whole wheat pastry flour has 4g protein per serving, is that related to its gluten level?
Basically I would like to make the bread with the whole wheat pastry flour and added gluten. Should I just add more gluten than the site recommends for adding to regular whole wheat flour? Any suggestions? My ultimate goal is to create a chewy, crispy and slightly sweet chocolate loaf.
- The Peanut Butter Boy