Is there a practical/frugal Flour Gluten substitute? I'd like to bake with whole wheat more (and I guess regular flour--doesn't bread flour have more gluten?) but don't want to have to purchase gluten (actually can't find in our rural area). There must be a practical substitute--our pioneer great grandparents didn't have gluten and sometimes ground their own flour so it was probably whole wheat...

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001

Answers

Hi Ann, I'm sorry I don't have your answer but Yahoo groups has a very active talk list called bread-machine. I'm sure you could post your bread questions there. I've always received an immediate response. Happy eating!

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), September 25, 2001.

Ann,

I bake with whole wheat flour all the time, even grind my own, and never have a problem. One of our favorite breads is a 9 grain that is 100% whole wheat flour and I never have had a problem.

Why do you feel that you need to add gluten?

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), September 25, 2001.

Maybe I have it all wrong--I thought that you added gluten because whole wheat flour is different, has less of gluten?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 25, 2001.

Hi Ann, I use mostly wheat flour in my bread machine, just a little white. Then I let the machine kneed the bread twice. I let it go through the kneeding process, restart it, and then leave it. Wheat flour already has gluten in it. Kneeding is what gets the gluten going...just makes it more "sticky" so it has that elasticity for rising and staying together. :) tang

-- tang (tang@mtaonline.net), September 25, 2001.

Hi Ann! I do put a little gluten flour in my whole wheat bread, to help it rise higher and be softer, but don't use a bread machine. I have not found a substitute for it. Like someone else said, the best substitute would be just kneading alot longer. Alot. The cheapest place to buy gluten flour here is at a health food store (refridgerated) in the grocery store it costs twice as much. Hope this helps. I only add 1/4 cup to a recipe that makes 3 big loaves of bread, so it goes a long way.

-- Jenny Pipes (Auntjenny6@aol.com), September 25, 2001.

To get my bread to rise better (whole grains make for a denser loaf) I add 1 mashed banana (its 2 to 3 loaf batch , bear in mind). It never fails! My whole grain and almost whole grain (half white half whole wheat and cereals) used to be very brick like but not anymore! I don't use a bread machine though.

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), September 25, 2001.

Ann, my bread machine book also recommended using gluten with whole wheat flour. I live in a rural area too, with no health food stores nearby, so I avoided using the whole wheat recipes. But this week I found gluten at a local Amish store. You might check a Mennonite store too. The bread turned out great. Good luck.

-- Joan (egavasnok@email.com), September 25, 2001.

Ann, If you use a high gluten whole wheat you shouldn't need to add gluten. We use hard red winter wheat and give it plenty of kneading to work the gluten and toughen it up. That is what holds the bread up and gives you the texture. There are also other hard wheats that have the necessary gluten. Good luck. Ron

-- Ron Quick (lightning@worldinter.net), September 25, 2001.

If you buy the brands of wheat that are labeled as "for bread", they will be of a naturally higher gluten content. The soft wheats are used for baked goods that are leavened with baking powder or baking soda or such, while the hard winter wheats are used for yeast- leavened baked goods. Soft wheats are generally grown more easily in the south, and hard wheats more easily in the north. I guess thats why yeast breads are more traditional in the northern states, while biscuits are traditional fare at every meal down south.

I have found that I can get whole wheat bread flour (high gluten content = winter wheat) at my local bulk foods store. I buy it in #50 bags and plunk the whole thing down into my freezer. I jsut dish out 5 or 10 lbs at a time the evening before baking, to allow it to come to room temp before using it. I get wonderful results. By the way, I do leave the dough stickier for whole wheat bread than I do for white bread, because the bran in the flour will continue to absorb liquid for quite a while. Another trick, is to beat in half of the flour, and allow to sit for 1/2 hour, before kneading in any more flour. It develops the gluten in the whole wheat better if it is soaked for a while.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), September 25, 2001.

Ann,

You can find wheat gluten on the web at www.bobsredmill.com They have about any kind of flour or grain you might want and will send it by UPS direct to your home.

-- Dwight (summit1762@aol.com), September 25, 2001.

When using my 100% hard red winter wheat flour I grind, I use a sponge method and get wonderful loaves.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), September 25, 2001.

King Arthur Flour also has a website and has anything you could think of in the way of flours and baking. You can even request a catalog. They ship anywhere. This is my favorite flour!

http://ww2.kingarthurflour.com/cgibin/start/ahome/main.html

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), September 26, 2001.

I just bought "dough conditioner" at Weaver's outside of Versailles, mo. My mom swears by it. Weaver's is a Amish/ minnonite bulk food store. This is what they use in thier bread baked. Hard wheat is used in all purpuse flour, soft wheat is for bread. So if you buy unground wheat be careful.

-- cindy in kc mo (redhenfarms@rovin.net), September 26, 2001.