World with and without Gluten

The fundamentals of Gluten

Gluten is the mixture of different proteins which are found in the common grains such as wheat, rye and barley. Gluten molecules are stimulated when the flour is dampened and then blended. This is the procedure which stretches out the gluten. The gasses are then produced by yeast which makes the gluten molecules expand which results in rising of the dough. The dough is then baked which hardens the gluten giving the bread its structure.

Gluten flour

However there is a vast selection of wheat each comprises of different content of gluten. There are varieties of flours made from complex gluten wheat which are known as strong flours. These flours are commonly used to bake or make breads, pasta, bagels and pizza crusts.
There are normal flours made form a medium level of gluten content, approx 12% which makes general flour that is used in our daily lives to bake a range of food items. The quality of the gluten depends on the level of dough is mixed that’s why we the level of dough varies when we are baking a cake or just crusty French rolls.

Fats with gluten

When baking with gluten is concerned fats usually play a part in the process. Take cookies for example you may find them crumbly because they have got high level of fat in them. What happens in the process is that the fat molecules expand and evolve around the threads of gluten which makes them difficult to stretch much. Gluten is also found as a key ingredient in food items that are not actually baked; a good example is the pasta. The gluten is the only reason why the pasta has a dense consistency. However to make pasta one thing needs to be considered is to select strong flours which contains high level contents of gluten because using normal flour would make pasta not much attractive, too soft and soggy.  

Baking without using gluten

Gluten is the sole reason which makes the food chewy and also structure the food. Without the use of gluten would be a mess the breads wont just rise. There are gluten-free breads available in the market and many of you have found it very heavy and thick because they’re just chunks of heavy starch. So baking without the use of gluten is not the perfect idea to bake something.