November 18, 2012 - 10:14pm
Can i make my own vital wheat gluten? bread flour ?
Hi :)
I just moved overseas to saudi arabia. I used to bake all the time with King arthur flour and everything was good. Now I am stuck and can't find any good flour. I have an access to a local mill. Can I make my own high gluten flour ? is it hard ? and how about vital wheat gluten ? Thanks everyone
Taz
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Hi, Talal
Although i live in neighbouring UAE, flours in both countries are almost similar in texture, and protein content. Most flours in the region, especially those sold in retail supermarkets are targeted at home bakers that make pastries, cakes, and occasionally pizza; flours that are low in gluten content as you discovered.
However, i haven't heard of mills that serve individuals like us. What type of local mill is it? Commercial? Cooperative?
do you have wheat berries to mill, or you'd want the mill to create flours to you liking?
Vital wheat gluten isn't commonly found in retail in this region, it is sold to commercial bakeries only. and No, VWG will not mimic nor replicate the results obtained with King Arthur bread flour.
Khalid
yes you can...
I used to extract gluten frequently to improve the strength of my doughs.
To do so, first make a dough hydrated at 60%. Using a bowl of cold water dunk the dough in and squeeze repeatedly to wash off the starch. The water will turn milky. Drain and repeat until the water stays mostly clear. You'll be left with a rubbery ball which is the gluten. You can then cut this into pieces and knead into your main dough.
Doing this will improve the volume of your loaves, if thats what you seek...
Khaild
That is true most of the flour here is pastry stuff since they dont expect people to make their own bread. There is a small mill beside my house and they have many types of wheat berry but I didn't know which one to choose from so I will go there again and take pictures for all of them and post it here hahaha. but I tried one of them and he milled it for me but I guess this is wheat flour not bread flour.
The guy asked me if I want it soft or corase and I made it soft but didn't tried it yet. Is there is a specific criteria to mill bread flour ?
Wheat stock in the region comes from Indian subcontinent, China, and Australia. All the imported varieties are relatively weak in quality protein ( i.e. proper gluten that suits western style breads).
Therefore, i wouldn't expect much from such flours, save for being good in chapati/Roti recipes.
Try to contact the bigger mills that supply bakeries, as they are most likely to carry bread flour in some sorts. Similarly, i had some tough times sourcing good bread flours, and ended up making my own gluten to add to the dough. Ultimately, i chose to search for good flour in one of the largest flour mills, and thankfully they did supply bread flour in commercial quantites (50kg sacks).
Khalid
mwilson
I did think about it since I watched a video once online doing the gluten test where they bake it after. so I was thinking about doing that and bake it and then ground it and have wheat gluten lol
I will try your techqinue but is there is a specific measurment like how much I should add ?
Hi talalzahid,
If you bake the gluten you will de-nature the protein. You will need to use the method suggested by Michael in order to incorporate gluten if you are seeking to strengthen your dough. Or you can try to find VWG powder; rubber band time!
Best wishes
Andy
flours...
Add egg whites or milk to the flour, this may improve protein bonding. Start out mixing one chicken egg white (35g to 40g) for 500g flour. Measure with the liquids.
Or add glue:
Add a heated water & flour (starch) mixture to make gel, use this to hold dough together. Known as Flour roux or Tangzhong. Heat to just thicken, not boil.
Also check into flour scalding.
Khaild, can you give me the name and the conctact info of your supplier ? Thanks :)
Andy's suggestion is good and i have personally tried it and worked fine for me. However, if you are living in Riyadh-K.S.A i could tell you about a store that carries flours important fro Lebanon & Syria, that store is specialized in organic products, and sells very good qualities of Syrian & Lebanese flours. So if you are in Riyadh please let me know!!!
Thanks,
Izzat
Izzat, yes I live here in riyadh please let me know where to get it.
I guess my problem with the flour is the taste. I did made awesome breads and bagels in usa using king arthur flour and when I made them here it doesn't taste the same . I attached couple of pictures of my bread and bagels that I made here in riyadh using FOOM flour.
Give yourself some credit Talal, those are good looking breads that you made in Riyadh, as for the taste i can only agree with you, they surely won't taste the same as they would if made with premium quality flours like KAF's.
However, if you are living in the beautiful city of Riyadh ;) i can tell you about two places that you could get good quality flours from.
#1: Biobest Store, Cercon Building no.5, Mousa bin Nousair St. i used to get good Lebanese and Syrian organic flours from them.
#2: (Sorry i forgot the name of the shop), but the store is in East Orouba St. they carry products from the famous Lebanese brand Naturalia and sell very good flours (particularly good is the Syrian Whole Wheat...soooo delicious). You may want to drive along the street. To give you a guiding landmark, it's next to Japanese restaurant Tokyo.
Hope this info would be good to you.
Let me know if you need anything :D
Enjoy life in Riyadh ;) :D