Relationship of Gluten Strength to Extreme Open Crumb
I have been spending time (metaphorically) together in Joze’s, aka “joc1954”, kitchen. Isn’t it amazing how we can time travel between the Southern United States and Slovenia in an instant? I’ve never flown on a plane, but have made friends the world over. I love the Internet :-)
What may have been obvious to many is now becoming clear to me. Joze’s recent blog post, 50% Whole Wheat Community Bake has started the gears in my brain turning.
I think I am learning that in order to produce extreme open crumb, it is important to develop gluten that is strong enough to contain the gasses but also weak enough to allow the alveoli to expand. <WOW> This is a delicate balance. I now believe this is why our good friend Trevor uses such long autolyse and pre-mixes. Hey! I’m slow, but I’m catching on ;-)
That conclusion leads me to another thought. Once this delicate balance of gluten is achieved, over-proofing is easily accomplished, since the gluten has been purposely made delicate.
I hope TrailRunner, aka Caroline doesn’t mind me lifting her image. This image provided me with a great visual clue that lead me to the statements above.
I shared these thoughts in the hopes that others would reply, either accepting some or all of the premise or refuting it as incorrect. “the truth sets us free”. Many never give thought to the idea that they may be wrong on a given belief. But in ignorance, they live comfortable lives. Whoo, it’s getting hot in here...
Danny
I wonder what this would mean on a molecular level, "gluten that is strong enough to contain the gasses but also weak enough to allow the alveoli to expand", since gluten is basically (if I understand correctly) a somewhat organized cross-linking, using relatively weak molecular bonds, among various glutenin and gliadin molecules. And then how I could relate that to my baking.
In other words, what is it about the gluten development that lets the bubbles get really big without popping, and how can I achieve that in my dough?
I do think it sounds like you are onto something.
Gluten has two properties. Elasticity - the ability to return to original shape so this holds it together. And Extensibility - the ability to be stretched. Different wheats have these properties but in varying amounts. So ancient grains might have stronger elasticity in comparison to extensibility or vice versa. Modern wheat has been bred for the best of both. That's why you get a good rise with modern wheat but with other varieties not so.
There are other factors to delve into but that is one aspect of a topic that a book can be written about. As even with modern wheat there are stronger and weaker varieties. Going too weak or too strong won't be good either. Method balance. And then there's handling to fermentation etc.
the Red Fife I used is an “ ancient” grain and does provide amazing gluten development and extensibility. The retard temp was really too high and in the thread Dan refers to I show the dough development at a slightly lower temp. I got way better crumb at the colder temp.