What Is This 'Bread Improver' - Good? Bad?
I am a new baker.
I've been enjoying baking plain french bread.
But I find the following day the crumb is too dense for my liking.
So I looked around the web and saw people saying 'add gluten'.
So I went to my local baker/brewer shop and asked for gluten.
He first wanted to sell me a jar of liquid which I noticed was labelled 'glucose' and when I pointed that out to him he said that's the same as 'gluten', which I find a bit hard to believe.
So then I told him how I'd come to be looking for gluten, dense crumb, internet and all and he turned around and said 'all you need is this' - and gave me some 'bread improver'.
Well sure enough, it seems to work. Makes a lovely piece of bread. But it's not gluten and I wonder what it is and how healthy it is.
The label says: Sugar, wheaten flour, emulsifier 481, mineral salt 170, soy flour, flour treatment agents 510, 300, enzyme (amylase)
All of this stuff is not 'gluten' is it?
What is it? Is it good?
I wonder why a shop devoted to baking and brewing ('henry's brew and bake') didn't stock gluten?
ab :)