Gluten- The facts

Some Basic Facts about Flour and Gluten

With gluten-free cooking and baking, it helps to know what gluten does before you try to work without it. Oddly enough, freshly milled wheat flour does not actually contain gluten. 

What it does contain is two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, which turn into gluten when they come in contact with liquid.

Gluten makes dough "doughy." 

As soon as glutenin and gliadin are surrounded by water, the gluten molecules develop and begin to form strong, sticky, elastic bonds. These elastic bonds give dough its stretchy, "doughy" qualities. 

Gluten helps dough rise. 

Two other factors that affect the development of gluten are the amount of water that's added to the flour (the more water, the more gluten, and the chewier the dough), and the amount of mixing or kneading. Kneading helps the bonded gluten molecules form into long elastic strands or sheets.

 That's why dough can rise when yeast has been added.

 The yeast gives off gasses, the gasses are trapped by the sheets of gluten molecules, and the dough rises.

Different purposes call for different flours. 

Different types of wheat flours have different amounts of gluten development. Bread flour develops a lot of gluten, while cake flour is relatively low in gluten because cakes should be less chewy than pizzas and breads. 

In contrast, pie crusts which have much less gluten than either breads or cakes. 

Substituting Gluten-Free Flour for Wheat Flour in Baked Goods

Gluten gives important properties to regular dough, so if you simply eliminate it without compensating for it in some way, you'll have disappointing results. 

Here are tips for successful baking with gluten-free flours.

1. Buy or make a gluten-free flour mix. 

If you just need to coat something in flour before you saute it, you can get away with a single-grain gluten-free flour. 

But for baking, gluten-free flours work better when used in combination. (For thickening sauces and gravies, use cornstarch or potato starch rather than gluten-free flour.) 

Start with a gluten-free flour mix that can be substituted one-for-one for wheat flour in recipes. Or you can buy the individual flours and make your own mix.

2. Bake breads and rolls in containers with walls.
 

Without gluten, bread loafs and rolls don't hold their shape. Bake bread in loaf pans and use muffin tins for rolls.

3. Add gums to your gluten-free flour. 

The sticky effect created by gluten can be simulated to a certain extent by adding gums, such as xantham gum. These gums are only added to recipes in small amounts (such as 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon per cup of flour) and are already included in some of the commercial gluten-free flour mixes.

4. Add some protein when you use gluten-free flour. 

Because gluten is a protein, it can help to add some protein to baking recipes when you're substituting gluten-free flours for wheat flour. 
Try replacing half a cup of water in your recipe with egg or liquid egg whites.

I hope this helps! 

It is important to remember if you are used to using regular flour it will take time to get it right with gluten free flour. Please don't give up if your first attempt isn't to plan! 

'Practice makes perfect!'