Kitchen Science - Mar 2010

Bread!

The great gluten cake!

I happen to live in a house of all vegans, 2 who are coeliacs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease), who also (for environmental purposes) shun sugar and most processed flours & foods. (My belief structure is not as restricted, but I must resign to the higher standards of the house.)

Clearly, This put me at a particular disadvantage for this weeks assignment, considering that the fundamental chemistry lesson this week involved wheat, egg and sugar.

Instead, I decided to conjure the memory of good bread making, which I actually learned whilst sailing across an ocean. We ran out of sliced bread fast and had to make our own. Our ingredients were simple. Yeast, water, oil, flour. Mix. Knead. Let it rise, knead it again, put it in the oven. It always came out so dense and fairly dry.. however, still most welcome on the high seas.

After reading about bread chemistry, I now see the merit of adding egg and other oils/butters. The fats and proteins in these substances change the protein bonds formed by gluten that make bread.. bready. Egg & oil soften bread by forming what chemist Herve This calls a "gel". The gel allows less water out, aiding gaseous rising but not drying.

But how was I supposed to do the bread project in a house where all these ingredients were forbidden? (The butter test was disallowed without question..) I'm aware of the failure of gluten free breads, no matter how spectacular or "ancient" the grain flour may be. Gluten is the reason for bread. End of story. Without it, you get a brick of starches, and vegan chefs are endlessly searching for gluten, egg and butter alternatives.. but none in use compare.

Rice flour kind of works, but I'm not sure what protein from rice makes it work. Coconut, quinoa, potato, corn, millet and other gluten-free flours, no matter how mixed or contrived, just don't create the chemical bonds that gluten from wheat is capable of! I tried a few recipes, and will share them if you like, but only in the spirit of sharing BAD recipes! Ha!