On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 15:14:54 -0500, Dick Margulis
> wrote:

>
>
>Raj V wrote:
>
>> Under what conditions would one use "Vital Wheat Gluten" in a bread recipe?
>> I haven't looked at bunches of recipes, but I've never seen one that used
>> this ingredient.
>>
>> TIA
>> Raj
>>
>>
>
>Another name for vital wheat gluten is "gluten flour." It is important
>to understand that this is different from "high-gluten flour." The
>latter is bread flour with a high protein content of the right sort to
>produce more gluten than typical bread flours when it is made up into a
>dough. Gluten flour, or vital wheat gluten, is an additive used in small
>quantities.
>
>Gluten flour is made by mixing flour with water to make a dough and then
>washing away the starch and drying and grinding what's left. There is
>also a more modern process that accomplishes the same thing.
>
>Gluten flour is added to doughs to give the baked goods more volume and
>a lighter texture. For example, if you want to make a commercial whole
>wheat bread (nominally made with 100% whole wheat flour) and have it be
>as light and fluffy as Wonder Bread, you are allowed to add up to 2%
>gluten flour. Another place it is used is in Kaiser Rolls (the real New
>York ones, not the star-imprinted soft rolls that you see in most of the
>country). These have a fragile, flaky crust and an airy crumb.
>
>A lot of amateur bakers try to compensate for their difficulty in
>properly developing the gluten in a dough by adding some vital wheat
>gluten (gluten flour). Mostly, this is a cop-out. It's preferable to
>learn better technique, instead. However, you do sometimes see recipes
>for heavy multi-grain breads that call for a little gluten flour to help
>compensate for all the non-gluten-forming flours that are used. This
>undeniably helps the dough hold together and makes for a somewhat
>lighter, tastier bread.

Very helpful and informative post, Dick. As a beginner, these kinds of
informative comments are encouraging. Thanks.


--
Hitachi HB-A101 bread machine, 1 pound
Email: Usenet-20031220 at spamex.com
(01/10/05)