is high gluten flour really different from regular flour?

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Is high gluten flour really different from regular flour?

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peppermint

Sun, Apr 22 2012, 11:40 pm

I did Seraphs no fail challah recipe with regular flour and it came out perfect! It tasted delicious! How would using high gluten flour make a difference? It was already so good!

ra_mom

Sun, Apr 22 2012, 11:52 pm

It would come out a bit more stretchy, the texture would be a little better.

bonitag1

Mon, Apr 23 2012, 12:30 am

You can buy gluten and add to regular flour, so you don't have to keep bread flour on hand.

peppermint

Mon, Apr 23 2012, 5:11 pm

bonitag1 wrote:

You can buy gluten and add to regular flour, so you don't have to keep bread flour on hand.

where can I buy plain gluten? how much do I need to add?

chani8

Mon, Apr 23 2012, 6:40 pm

If you can find a nice challah flour, meaning the higher gluten or add gluten, I think you will enjoy it. It adds flavor and texture and works great with a water challah recipe for something similiar to italian type bread.

shanie5

Wed, Apr 25 2012, 11:23 pm

peppermint wrote:

bonitag1 wrote:

You can buy gluten and add to regular flour, so you don't have to keep bread flour on hand.

where can I buy plain gluten? how much do I need to add?

Its usually where they keep the flour. Its called "Vital Wheat Gluten". I know that hodgson mills makes it. It comes in a small box.

etky

Thu, Apr 26 2012, 4:17 am

I generally use the high gluten flour (Steibel #2 in Israel) for all breads that I bake unless the recipe specifies otherwise.
My feeling though is that the high gluten content is more crucial when it comes to baking unenriched bread from dough that doesn't contain eggs, lots of sugar and oil like many challah recipes. The dough in the unenriched recipes is more dependent on the gluten for structure and rise.
While we're on the topic - has anyone in Israel been successful in obtaining gluten?
I've tried in baking supply stores and also in health food stores where they look at me like I'm crazy for requesting something which totally bucks the anti-gluten trend that is very popular here now.

willow

Thu, Apr 26 2012, 11:28 am

I asked my health food store (Israel) and they have never heard of it at all.

etky

Thu, Apr 26 2012, 11:46 am

BTW - I use lower gluten flours for cake baking (10% gluten or lower) I find that there's a real difference. Cakes come out softer, with a more tender crumb. Be careful though, sometimes a recipe will specify all purpose flour (generally 10.5% here in Israel) for a reason and then you should follow the recipe's instructions. I've found that certain cakes will be a bit mushy or soggy (especially ones containing fruit) with the cake/pastry flour. I guess it's trial and error. I would never use cake/pastry flour for any type of bread though.
Here in Israel there is also a special challah flour. I've tried it but have since returned to the regular bread flour. It made the crust a bit darker and drier. My family prefers a softer crust.

peppermint

Thu, May 31 2012, 12:06 am

shanie5 wrote:

peppermint wrote:

bonitag1 wrote:

You can buy gluten and add to regular flour, so you don't have to keep bread flour on hand.

where can I buy plain gluten? how much do I need to add?

Its usually where they keep the flour. Its called "Vital Wheat Gluten". I know that hodgson mills makes it. It comes in a small box.

Where can I buy this? I tried pathmark, shoprite and a kosher grocery.

Marion

Thu, May 31 2012, 1:21 am

I have found bulk gluten (5kg bag) at a baker's supply (Poliva, in Ramle). I have a whole pile that I will happily split with anyone who wants to share. I think it was 16NIS/kg last time I bought it.

bonitag1

Thu, May 31 2012, 2:22 am

You can buy gluten at Whole Foods. Two brands are Arrowhead Mills and Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten. You can get it online if you can't easily get to a health food store. For example, http://www.vitacost.com carries them both. I think you add a tablespoon of gluten per cup of regular flour.

peppermint

Thu, May 31 2012, 12:40 pm

I dont live near a whole foods. I called a health food store but they dont sell it. I guess the only place to buy this would be online. Does anyone know which brands are kosher? From the pictures it looks like only the hodgson mills brand has an OU.

bonitag1

Thu, May 31 2012, 12:54 pm

The Arrowhead Mills is OK pareve.

ra_mom

Thu, May 31 2012, 1:26 pm

peppermint wrote:

shanie5 wrote:

peppermint wrote:

bonitag1 wrote:

You can buy gluten and add to regular flour, so you don't have to keep bread flour on hand.

where can I buy plain gluten? how much do I need to add?

Its usually where they keep the flour. Its called "Vital Wheat Gluten". I know that hodgson mills makes it. It comes in a small box.

Where can I buy this? I tried pathmark, shoprite and a kosher grocery.

Your local health food store should have it.
I've purchased vital wheat gluten at Zahler's Health Shoppe and Landau's Boro Park Health Food.

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