Dough recipe for non-high-gluten flour

[bodegahwy]

Does anyone have a good substitute approach to high gluten flour? Can you use other flours and add some kind of other ingredient to make it work?

 

[system]

bodegahwy:

Does anyone have a good substitute approach to high gluten flour? Can you use other flours and add some kind of other ingredient to make it work?

I have used flours from 9% to 14.4% protein.
from my experience, less protein, the less water can be added and less protein, the softer the crust

I am using 12.5% protein, 62% water, .5% IDY, and 3% salt, mix about 10 minutes on low so not to over mix…coat in olive oil after balling and refrigerating.
crispy, naturally sweet, light in the middle and still hard enough on the outside to box and deliver OK…

experiment and verify for yourself to see what works best for you,
hope this helps,
Otis

 

[Charles]

Yes, you can use a lower-protein flour and add “gluten” concentrate. But why?

 

[Tom_Lehmann]

Good news/Bad news: Good news is that you can add vital wheat gluten to a lower protein flour to make it perform in a very similar manner to a high protein/gluten flour. The bad news is that the gluten is extracted from wheat flour and it sells for a whole lot more than wheat flour. Typically, if you start with a 10% protein all purpose or H&R flour, you would need to add about 5% of the flour weight as vital wheat gluten to bring it up to the equivalency of a 13% protein flour. You would also need to add about 6% additional water to the dough formula too to compensate for the drying affect of the dry gluten. At $2.00 per pound (I don’t know what it is presently selling for) you would thus be adding 2.5-pounds of gluten so the added cost would be $5.00 more per 50# bag. You will need to price out the vital wheat gluten and do the math to see if it will be an economical advantage to go this route. Vital wheat gluten is available from any BAKERY INGREDIENT SUPPLIER.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

 

[bodegahwy]

Thanks Tom,

At this point I am less concerned with the price than I am with outright un-availability of high gluten flour. My US foods rep tells me that there is a good chance that it will simply be unavailable for a period in late summer and is suggesting that we research alternative now. I can deal with the price, but I need to have the alternative figured out if I call to order high gluten and they tell me “there isn’t any this week”

Steve

 

[pizzanerd]

Steve,

There is a handy tool to do the math for you, at http://www.unclesalmon.com/tools/food.php (on the right hand side). There are four inputs you will need to use the tool: 1) the protein content of the base flour to be supplemented with the vital wheat gluten, 2) the protein content of the particular brand of vital wheat gluten you will be using (they tend to run from about 65% to 75% protein), 3) the targeted flour weight (mass), and the targeted protein content for the combined mix. The tool gives the amount of the base flour and the amount of the vital wheat gluten to use. Since the total of the two is equal to the targeted flour weight, you may have to experiment to see if you need the additional water.

As an example, assume that you have a 50# bag of bread flour with a protein content of 12.7% and you want to raise its protein content to 14.2% (the protein content of a high-gluten flour), using a vital wheat gluten with a protein content of 75%, you will end up with 48.0253 lbs. of the bread flour and 1.9747 lb. of the vital wheat gluten (the sum is equal to 50 lb.) In using the tool for the above example, I did not use the items in the pull-down menus.

 

[Tom_Lehmann]

Most of us can utilize a lower protein content “bread” type flour withoiut any significant hurdles. You will need to reduce the finished dough temperature to the 75 to 80F range, make sure you take the dough directly to the cooler after cutting, balling, and boxing. Then cross stack for two hours and down stack and nest. The dough will stil be ready to use after about 12-hours in the cooler, but it should be used in 48 rather than 72-hours. If you have a problem with crispiness, reduce the bake temperature by about 25F and bake an additional minute or so.
Tom Lehmann/ The Dough Doctor

 

[ddariel20]

now i am really suprised no one replied when i told you all a few weeks ago that this would be the case (lack of high gluten flour) but i told you so