Oh i see, yes if you don't mind I would appreciate it.
Especially if you have websites educating about the composition and differences between gluten/gluten free.
I would like to understand what should be adjusted and substituted in order to get the best result.
Most gluten free recipes that I found simply substitute wheat with gluten free flour, but I doubt it is that easy.. Of course you get a cake or cookies etc, but definitely not close with a gluten baked good. So I wanted to understand a bit deeper what are the reactions and what ajustements should be made. (Well, if it's possible).
Thank you.
Unfortunately there are no significant chemical reactions in gluten free baking to study. The chemical reaction in traditional baking is all about controlling and manipulating the proteins, gliadin and glutenin. These are the molecules that create gluten when they bind with water. Traditional baking is about the extensibility, elasticity, and strength in dough and batter.
Gluten free flours lack these molecules. So there is nothing to study in the way of chemical reactions in gluten free baking.
It might help if you understand a bit about the fundamentals of baking, and why the absence of theses proteins leave nothing to study in gluten free baking.
First, contrary to what most people think, there is no gluten in wheat flour.
- Gliadin gives dough its extensibility (stretching) properties
- Glutenin gives dough its elasticity (retraction) properties
This matrix creates extensibility, elasticity, and strength in dough and batter. The manipulation of the gluten network is the basis of all traditional baking. There is some consideration of how volatile compounds and furans create aroma and flavor in baked goods. But, these do not happen in a void without the baked goods.
The extensibility, elasticity, and strength allows us to mix a malleable dough or a liquid batter. But to permanently set a dough or batter, starch gelatinization must occur in the wheat flour starch.
Wheat flour has two separate types of starch molecules, amylose and amylopectin. These are polysaccharides (sugar molecules). Each of these starch molecules has its own unique long chain shape: amylose is a straight chain polymer of glucose; amylopectin is highly branched. The long chains are held together with hydrogen bonds.
When the starch molecules are exposed to water molecules and heated, they expand. Eventually the starch molecules will expand so much the hydrogen bonds break apart, and the water molecules bind to the areas where hydrogen bonds broke. As more water molecules displace the hydrogen bonds, the long chain molecules of amylose and amylopectin begin to form a gel like mass. This is when the thickening property of starch begin to happen.
Let’s say you are baking a cookie:
68°F (20°C) finished dough; gluten development begins
92°F (33°C) baking begins; butter melts
122°F (50°C) starch gelatinization begins
144°F (60°C) protein denaturalization begins.
310°F (155°C) maillard reactions occurs on the outer edges and bottom of the cookies in direct contact with the making sheet
So when the water molecules bind to gliadin and glutenin in wheat flour in the mixing, it makes all the other chemical reactions in wheat baking possible.
When there is no gliadin and glutenin, none of the other chemical reactions in baking occur.
Sugar does not have an tenderizing effect in baking because there is no gliadin and glutenin to react with.
Egg still coagulates, but since there is no gliadin and glutenin to give the dough/batter extensibility and strength, the baked goods are crumbly and dense. The egg yolk improves density and volume, while the water in the white produces steam to aid rise. But there must be a gluten network to trap the air bubbles.
Leavening still activates, but since there is no gliadin and glutenin to give the dough/batter extensibility and strength, baked goods do not have an open crumb.
Maillard Reaction occurs when amino acids (proteins) from the wheat flour and egg and sugars break down then the two form into a single ring like structure. The new structure they form deflects light, so food has a distinctive golden caramelized color. But more important, when the amino acids and the sugars react together, they creates compounds that create new aromas and flavors. Gluten free flours do not produce the maillard reaction because they do not have the gliadin and glutenin.
Gluten free flours are mostly starch. Starch gelatinization still happens in gluten free baking. And when the starch begins to cool, it slowly forces the water molecules out and the hydrogen bonds re-form. This process is starch retrogradation. This happens with all starch gelatinization, whether it is in baking, or the use of a starch in the thickening of a sauce, gravy, or filling.
When the water is being forced out of baked goods, it makes them dry. We refer to it as stale bread, cake, or cookies, etc. Since gluten free baked goods are usually made with high starch flours, they stale very quickly.
In gluten free baking the focus is on binders—holding the dough/batter together. Many gluten flours are not even grains, but instead ground nuts, roots, and seeds. These nuts, seeds, and roots do have any characteristics remotely similar to wheat. Yet people have this unrealistic of grinding them into powders, adding a binder, and expecting them to taste and perform like wheat.
In approaching gluten free baking you have to let go of your concepts of baking. There are some things that can be made deliciously gluten free. But, I’ve made peace with the fact that there are many things I will never eat again because the gluten-free alternatives are so inferior they’re just not worth eating. There are so delicious dishes that are naturally gluten free. Life is to be lived well. I choose not to eat what is insufferably bad when there is so much to enjoy on the table.
I think these bloggers produce good gluten free content.
gluten free flour blends page
https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/
http://abakinglife.thedailymeal.com
https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-recipes
http://www.cannellevanille.com/recipes/
http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2005/08/recipe-index.html
decent bread recipes
http://www.bakingmagique.com/2015/02/seeded-gluten-free-sourdough-bread/
https://vanillaandbean.com/seeded-multigrain-gluten-free-sourdough-bread
Books:
Patrica Austin is an pastry chef who used to live in Paris. She worked for Pierre Hemes. Austin is gluten free. She wrote a gluten free baking cookbook called, Patisserie Gluten Free: The Art of French Pastry.