September 15, 2016 - 6:21pm
Are dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten the same thing?
Are dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten the same thing? If not, what's the difference? When would you use one and not the other? What purposes do they serve? I am new to baking and haven't really heard much about these. Thanks a lot!
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Gluten is the type of protein in wheat. VWG is a powdered form of this protein. A small amount of VWG is often added to bread dough that contains a good deal of (or mostly) whole grain flour and/or a lot of seeds/nuts to improve the structure and elasticity of the dough. Dough containing a lot of whole grain flour and seeds/grains/nuts as add-ins need a boost to help them hold their structure and develop elasticity found in bread doughs made primarily with all-purpose flour or bread flour. King Arthur Flour's "bread dough enhancer" product is primarily VWG, but also contains low fat soy flour, inactive yeast and ascorbic acid. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop-img/labels/1443555882896.pdf
I would say that VWG and "dough enhancer" could be used interchangeably, but if you fancy being a purist, stick with the VWG to avoid the additives found in the enhancer. Whatever floats your boat. I am sure more experienced and knowledgable bakers on this site (which is to say, just about everyone -- while I have a few months under my belt, I am most assuredly not yet old hat at this bread thing) may have more helpful insight.
Welcome and I look forward to hearing more about your breads!
be all kinds of things including having some VWG in it. Mine does but it also has all kinds of other things as well monodiglycerides, calcium sulfate, tricalcium phosphate, ascorbic acid, salt, L-Csteine and associated enzymes.
All of them enhahce dough in one way or another
dabrownman, you been eating the fermented dough again? :)
but I could be wrong.
Been there tried that. I would have to be pretty desperate to use either in my doughs. I prefer, lemon juice or egg white or malt or milk or potato water or long ferments or shorter ferments or soakers or roasts or sprouts or flour combinations or semi cooked starches or or or. That's where the fun is.
After the Chinese incidents involving adulteration of powdered milk and VWG with melamine a few years ago, I avoid the stuff.
This morning I was using the microwave (thaw) to speed up the proof on a dough. Had just added instant yeast to an all night soaker with a pinch of yeast. Worked pretty good! Had the crispy loaf on the table for breakfast. Dough liquid was potato water and the flours were AP, spelt and a little bread flour.
Very elastic stuff as I worked in the yeast this morning. Had to rest it often. Next time... no bread flour, AP is enough. More gluten, like VWG would have made it more difficult to knead in the added yeast.
I've made a note.
...wouldn't recognise the ingredient then it is is probably an enhancer/improver of some kind. VWG is a shortcut that's sprung from industrial baking. If, like the Real Bread Campaign, you're into baking & promoting 'real bread' (flour/water/salt & nothing else) it's not an acceptable additive. That said, there's no law against using it. It's up to you. However, there are loads of way of developing gluten structure without adding VWG: poolishes, levains, autolysis and time to name a few.
AD to make mock meats for Buddhist vegetarians. It was then quickly adopted by noodle makers to add elasticity and strength it their noodles so they could be made longer - the Chinese love long noodles. It was around long before any industrial baking of any kind. It is just wheat flour with the starch removed. It is made by by wetting the flour and kneading til the gluten is developed and then rinsing the dough ball in water till the starch is removed leaving the gluten behind. It is then dried and ground into a flour.
Since it is 100% wheat and totally natural, it is perfectly acceptable in baking Real Bread of any kind. Vegans won't eat anything in any way tainted and they lap up seitan (VWG) like it was real meat - no worries. VWG is a great way to make better bread when the gluten producing proteins are low in the flour at hand. Some flours, like those made from hard spring wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest, have much more gluten protein in it than hard red winter wheat grown elsewhere even though they have the same protein percent. Both make good bread, but hard spring white wheat is what you fined in many high gluten flours and blended bread flour. Gluten is good for many breads, especially whole grain ones - and bad for many too, if you are making baguettes for example you want lower gluten flour.
There are many misconceptions about VWG - almost all of them are urban myths. Mini's note on the Chinese adding melamine to it for export was a true disaster and why I make my own VWG today - it is easy. Can't trust the Chinese when it comes to food it seems. They killed a lot of dogs with their melamine added to dog food without noting it on the ingredient list crap.
I don't want to add anything to my bread either if I don't know exactly what it is and where it came from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)
I'm amazed that the product gets the tag VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN, here in Australia its referred to as plain old Gluten. Vital tends to give the impression it cant be done without and although gluten is a wonderful natural substance that forms from two proteins Glutenin and Glyadin when mixing a wheat flour dough and holds the gas to give us that nice open crumb in our bread, The act of separating it as described above which is quite often the bi product of starch producing companies that sell it in either wet or dry powdered form suddenly assumes the title VITAL.
Gluten certainly has wonderful properties that allow us to make the bread we enjoy Perhaps it should be WONDERFUL WHEAT GLUTEN or for the growing number of people that are gluten intollerent then perhaps INTOLLERABLE WHEAT GLUTEN.
Certainly commercially in bread factories gluten is used quite extensively in instant no time doughs when maximum gas retention is required to fill bread pans to satisfy customers that need the perfect rectangular shape for sandwich breads. Not accepting that wholemeal and multigrain loaves are likley to be a little denser
Regards Derek
that is now used so much, it looses its meaning. The pronunciation, (vee tal`) emphasis on "tal" Latin "vitalis" from "vita" or life. Just google "vital" and look at a few of the thirteen and a half million hits. Search "vital movement" and get another 8 million hits. When I see vital in front of anything other than "signs," I tend to ignore it and often skip over name or product (to a more beautiful you!) Advertisement hype, is how I read it. "Vee-tal" is not vital. I prefer the word "concentrated."
Making your own concentrated gluten is another matter. If carefully weighed, it is also a way to test a flour for gluten %.
For the purest of purists, salt may be described as a dough enhancer as it tightens protein bonds, namely gluten bonds in the dough matrix.
Indeed mini, and Salt is even more Vital or Important in making a good loaf of bread as is Water and Flour, I just wish gluten was referred to as plain and simple gluten.
English is hard enough to understand with so many words with different meanings.
I know with the chef students where I worked that used the tern Vital Wheat Gluten I showed them a formula with an adjective in front of each ingredient.
1000g Essential Flour
10g Indispensable Salt
10g Imperitives Butter
650g Critical Water
10g Crucial Instant Yeast
This formula would give quite a good bread without Vital Wheat Gluten or powdered or wet gluten being an addition to that dough or adjectives being employed.
Good lord, I looked everywhere I could think of around me for "dough enhancer" and literally couldn't find it anywhere! Pretty frustrating as I wanted to try it to see what difference it makes.
icantbakeatall, you can find dough enhancer on Amazon.com. Just put it in their search bar. They have many sizes, brands & prices.