The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Substitute for bread flour

Janet Yang's picture
Janet Yang

Substitute for bread flour

Does a mixture of all-purpose flour and vital wheat gluten work well as a substitute for bread flour?

I’m guessing that I need to go by the amounts of protein listed on the packages of all-purpose and wheat gluten, aiming for a total of 12.7%. 

Or, do you know of an easy approximation?

By the way, what does the “vital” in “vital wheat gluten” mean?

mwilson's picture
mwilson

I'll take this one.

"Vital" means the processing was done in way that it retains the viscoelastic properties.

The alternative, "non-vital" means the extraction was done in a way that "cooked" (denatured) the proteins and so it can't be used as an improver for bread dough.

"non-vital" is used as a nutritional supplement and a source of extra protein. 

The Almighty Loaf's picture
The Almighty Loaf

I’d always thought it was “vital” because you get wheat gluten by washing away the starch off a doughball so it’s kinda like the “heart” of the dough; you can’t remove it without it ceasing to be dough. At least to bakers, gluten is certainly pretty vital lol

wheatbeat's picture
wheatbeat

I have a calculator for this here if you want: https://wheatbeat.com/how-to-make-high-gluten-flour/