Gluten - What is it, exactly?

Today's post will discuss gluten in detail. How many of my gluten-free friends know what gluten is? Sure, we know it comes from the grain, wheat, but what exactly IS gluten?

Gluten is produced when a high protein flour is kneaded. It's that stretchy quality found in dough, particularly pizza dough, breads, etc.

Here is a video from the cooking school,

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

So, in short, gluten is the stretchy stuff in breads, etc., that causes the breads to rise, and have a light airy taste.

In the full lesson they discuss the different properties of flour. A lower protein flour will have less gluten once kneaded. So, this got me thinking. . . what might be a good substitute for a high protein grain for a flour that will have more gluten, but not be wheat. After some serious thought, I've come up with Quinoa. I'm going to attempt using Quinoa flour to create bread. It certainly has enough protein, thereby making it a great candidate to produce gluten, but yet be wheat gluten-free. I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy, allergy-free cooking!

Posted in: cooking,cooking substitutions,gluten-free