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hi-gluten flour vs. gluten?

Enkidu <enkidu@mail.utexas.edu>
Sun, 23 Mar 1997 06:00:14 -0600 (CST)
v097.n026.3
Vital gluten (also called gluten flour) is more-or-less pure protein,
extracted from wheat and concentrated into a powder. High-gluten flour is
simply flour with a lot of gluten in it, either because it comes from a
hard wheat or because it has already been boosted with vital gluten.
High-gluten flour could be anything from regular all-purpose flour (which
is high-gluten compared to the flours ordinarily used in French baking, for
example) to first-clear (a specialty flour with such ultra-high protein
content that even breads usually don't call for it). If it has nutritional
information on the package, you can estimate the protein content by
dividing the total weight per serving by the weight of protein. 13-15%
should be about right for breadmaking (if you care, all-purpose flour is
about 12%, and pastry and cake flours float around 7-9). Another way of
estimating is the drop-test: If you drop the (full) sack on the floor and
it bounces back into your hands, you probably have a fairly strong flour.

Omar


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"I would be a little careful with this, though, as I suspect it might be
easy to burn the z'atar."
debbie, Concord, ma