February 16, 2016 - 6:22am
Vital gluten
hello! I have been trying to use up a 50 pound bag of white flour my father bought me and whole wheat flour as well. I have been using the artisan five minute bread books, but I really don't like using so much added gluten (vital gluten) in the recipes. I understand it helps the rise, texture and softness of the bread because wheat is dense. and I have been using vital gluten as well to make my all purpose flour as a good substitute for bread flour too! Is there a way to get some of the benefits of added vital gluten without actually adding it or is there a substitute or process that I can use instead ?
thanks So much!!!!
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Just don't use it. You may need to modify your processes somewhat especially for your whole grain breads. Your whole wheat bread will probably turn out denser, this is normal. AP flour is perfectly suitable for making many types of bread without added gluten...All depends on what you're trying to make the the process you're using. So experiment and find recipes that are posted on this site that don't use VWG and try them out, plenty of good formulas around here.
I've made a lot of the 5 minutes a day breads, and I find the gluten development is less overall than I get from working the dough at least a little bit. I use some of their formulas still (with minor modifications) but do some development from longer mixing in the stand mixer, hand kneading, stretching and folding, or whatever seems appropriate for the kind of dough (type of flours, hydration level, etc). They turn out much better, so you might try leaving out the vital wheat gluten and just working the dough a bit (whatever technique you prefer) before you pop it in the fridge to ferment. I know it defeats the purpose of "5 minutes a day" bread, but it doesn't take long and gives you a better feel for when the dough is 'ready' anyway, if you have your hands in it!