March 19, 2024 - 5:38pm
Substitutes Possible?
Hi there,
I am pretty new to bread making.
I noticed in some of my recipes that a tablespoon or two of vital wheat gluten is called for.
A ) Is it possible to substitute the same amount of flour instead and get a good loaf of bread?
B ) What else may be used successfully to replace vital wheat gluten?
I desire to create bread that is very tasty and nutritious. I was thinking so many recipes ask for water.
C ) Could I create a tasty and nutritious loaf by replacing water with another liquid like milk or vegetable or fruit juice?
D ) What would happen, if I added an egg to a recipe that did not require one?
I look forward to your reply,
Sandra
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A & B - vital wheat gluten is an additive meant to strengthen the dough. I would start with simple formulas for lean bread. Flour, water, salt, and yeast. Look at the King Arthur flour website for ideas.
C&D - replacing water for milk and or egg, butter oil is very possible and doable. This would make your lean four ingredient bread what we in the club call an enriched dough. Other inclusions are also doable,with to many possibilities to list. Baby steps my dear. Start with a nice "lean" bread recipe, meanwhile do some reading it will all fall into place.
Best regards,
Will Falzon
I'm with Will on this. First bake bread. Then play with additives.
That being said --
--gluten is the stuff in wheat that tends to support a lofty rise. recipes sometimes call for adding vital wheat gluten if they are using flours that don't have much gluten.
For instance, rye has less gluten, so some people add gluten to rye breads. But it's not necessary. I've found that if you mix 40% rye flour with 60% bread flour you still get a good rise. And higher percentage ryes have many other qualities that tend to be enhanced by slightly greater density.
As for subbing other liquids for water--sure. I've made some great cider ryes and breads with beer. There are lots of recipes on this site.
Adding an egg will make your loaf more dessert-y or pastry-like, I would think.
But again, bake bread. Poke around & find recipes that interest you. Try them. Soon, you'll be comfortable being more experimental.
Rob
Love your questions, sounds like me when I started getting creative. When inventing the light bulb Thomas Edison said, "I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." The difference between light bulbs and bread is that we can eat our "failures" ... amazing what a toaster and lots of butter can fix. :-d A basic bread recipe would be 3c flour, 1c water, 1t salt and a packet of yeast. Make that for your baseline comparison of everything to follow, just make one ingredient change at a time.
Recipes are just ideas / suggestions by the person that wrote them for the ingredients that THEY used. Flours vary greatly in their flavors and moisture content so it won't always work well to follow a recipe. Adding gluten would only be necessary if you are using (wheat) all purpose or pastry flour; bread flour naturally has enough gluten. Other grain flours like barley, rye, rice, oat ... have no gluten, mix these with +50% bread flour and/or add gluten. You will figure this out when you start experimenting. One experiment I highly suggest is a loaf with too much water, and another with not enough, +/- two tablespoons should do it. That way when you try a new liquid ingredient like an egg, or honey, you will have a feel if the liquid content is good.