September 30, 2009 - 10:20am
Gluten - Protein ...
I see the terms gluten and protein used somewhat interchangably in some of the threads on this forum and I'm wondering if my interpretation is correct.
As I understand it, the greater amount of protein in a given type of flour the higher it's gluten content will be. So a 10% protein flour is lower in gluten than a 12% protein flour? Did I miss sometehing?
Also, is the percentage of protein listed on the nutrutional outline on the flour package a percentage by weight? I suspect it is, but uncertainty haunts me still.
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There're two types of proteins in flour - glutenin and gliadin, when water is introduced they combine forming gluten, so in a sense it is the same thing. Nutritional table doesn't give percentage of protein, just weight per serving, and the number is a very innacurate measure of protein content - try it and you will see that for a 30 g. serving 12, 13 and 14 will all round to 4 g.
But High protein doesn't mean high gluten necessarily, as in Durum wheat? Yeah I'm confused. Re nutrition info, I asked someone at King Arthur Flour about how to read that percentage, and he agreed that it was ambiguous, and that if I did the math I would be more confused. (easy for me) Does harder wheat mean higher protein?
Ray
Gluten is a type of protein, but not all protein is gluten. For wheat flour, I believe the majority of the protein is gluten, but there might be small percentages of other types of protein.
Therefore, even though there might not be an exact correlation (13% protein might mean 12% gluten), in general they go together.
Hope this helps.
Danny - Sour Flour
http://www.sourflour.org
OK then, if the nutritional label says one serving = 30 grams, and there are 3 grams of protein in one serving, the gluten may not be 100% of the protein and therefore the flour is not necessarily 10% protein. However, if I'm looking for a flour that boasts 11 - 12% protein and a second brand/type of flour lists 30 grams per serving with 4 grams of protein in each serving (about 12%) then I'm pretty well assured that I've got a flour that will serve bread making purposes better than the 3 grams per serving variety?
Protein content has no direct relation to suitability for bread baking.
Protein of the wheat definitely has a lot to do with bread baking. Most commercial flour mills mix high and low protein wheats when they do their milling.
Meaning that they are lowering gluten-forming ability of flour on purpose to make it better for bread baking?
Well, suave, I thought so too. But KA seems to think it does. See why it's so confusng? Check out "thanks to all" below ...
Yet all the most expensive flours they sell have low protein content. But why, why, why do they say it is their 11.7% flour is "ideal for your favorite French and Italian loaves". If more protein means better bread why say 11.5% flour is "flour of choice for baguettes"? Because that's what they say.
Each kind of wheat has it's own character. Each kind of grain as well. Labeled protein can be a guide but the characteristics of the flour type must be considered.
I've been in situations where I've not had a choice in flour. I worked with it, tweaked my recipes to deal with it and have changed my methods to come out with an acceptable loaf to my family's particular taste. It has been a great learning experience. It is absolutely amazing to find out how many variables can be changed to get a different result with just one kind of flour. One kind of flour can produce pizza, cinn rolls, hard rolls, soft rolls, flat breads, pancakes, crepes, free standing loaves, sourdough, pretzels, bagels, cakes, dumplings and noodles if one takes the time to understand the limits of that particular flour and how to manipulate it. Speck sheets are a great help, having a variety of flours can be practical (and confusing) but can't replace hands on cooking, baking and aquired experience or shared experience. Just buy some flour and work with it, learn from it.
Mini
Thanks, all. I've been using Mini's recommended approach for about a year now and it has worked fairly well. What got me started with this question was just that I've been reading so many posts recently that insist that a flour with less than 11% - 12% protein is a poor choice for bread making. Then I read one earlier this week that indicated "bread" flour on a package didn't mean anything; nor did "All Purpose" flour, because KA allegedly labels a flour "All Purpose" and it supposedly has enough protein to work well as a bread flour and that the labels of other mills that market "bread" flour really aren't high enough in protein to justify the label. Then I read on KA web site that their "bread" flour " ... has a protein content of 12.7% - a full point higher than other national brands – helping even whole-grain and mechanically kneaded yeast breads rise high. And King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour is the top-selling unbleached bread flour in the nation." Then, for their Sir Lancelot Unbleached "high gluten" bread flour, they say "This is the highest-gluten flour (14.2% protein) available on the retail market today." That's how I got confused.
So I think I'll just go back to experimenting with different flour types and not be concerned with protein content. Otherwise I'll drive myself nuts.....
I have purchased bread flours with gluten levels as high as 14% yet my go to flour is always King Arthur Bread Flour, which is 12.7% It just seems to have more gluten strength. I use many different types of flours, but I always make it a point to add some King Arthur bread flour to the mix. King Arthur did their homework when developing this flour. That is probably why it is the best selling bread flour in the country.