CONTROLLING GLUTEN

Flour is mostly starch, as you know, but it is the protein or gluten content, not the starch, that concerns the baker most. Gluten proteins are needed to give structure to baked goods. Bakers must be able to control the gluten, however. For example, we want French bread to be firm and chewy, which requires much gluten.On the other hand,we want cakes to be tender,which means we want very little gluten development.

Ingredient proportions and mixing methods are determined, in part, by how they affect the development of gluten.The baker has several methods for adjusting gluten development:

1. Selection of flours Wheat flours are classified as strong or weak, depending on their protein content.
Strong flours come from hard wheat and have a high protein content. Weak flours come from soft wheat and have a low protein content.
Thus, we use strong flours for breads and weak flours for cakes. Only wheat flour develops enough gluten to make bread.To make bread from rye or other grains, the formula must be balanced with some highgluten flour, or the bread will be heavy.

2. Shortening Any fat used in baking is called a shortening because it shortens gluten strands. It does this by surrounding the particles and lubricating them so they do not stick together.Thus, fats are tenderizers.
A cookie or pastry that is very crumbly, which is due to high fat content and little gluten development, is said to be short.
You can see why French bread has little or no fat, while cakes contain a great deal.

3. Liquid Because gluten proteins must absorb water before they can be
developed, the amount of water in a formula can affect toughness or tenderness. Pie crusts and crisp cookies, for instance, are made with very little liquid in order to keep them tender.

4. Mixing methods In general, the more a dough or batter is mixed, the
more the gluten develops.Thus, bread doughs are mixed or kneaded for a long time to develop the gluten. Pie crusts, muffins, and other products that must be tender are mixed for a short time.
It is possible to overmix bread dough,however.Gluten strands will stretch only so far. They will break if the dough is overmixed.