Kitchen Science Focus on Flour and Gluten a hit in Modiin!

On Wednesday night, Aug. 27th, 2014 The Walder Center presented another great Kitchen Science program focusing on the properties of flour. Sarelle Weiner, pastry artist, engaged a group of in Modiin, Israel, in various activities relating to flour.

How to measure consistently so that the product can be relied upon to have the right texture and body. What are the different types of flour that are on the market and what are the uses for each type?

Then we learned about Gluten. Gluten is a complex protein formed when water is mixed with flour. The proteins Glutenin and Gliadin in the flour combine to form Glutenin when water or other liquids are introduced to the flour when making dough. Glutenin provides extensibility into the dough - the ability to stretch without breaking. A property of glutenin is to make the product chewy. Gliadin provides the elasticity into the dough - the property that causes the ends of the dough to snap back when rolling it out. Elasticity makes the dough keep it form as it breaks, as opposed to running over the pan.

When you are baking a cake- do you want it to be easy to cut with the edge of the fork, or difficult? More Gluten or less?
When you are baking cookies - do you want them to be crisp or chewy? More Gluten or less?
When baking muffins, do you need a batter that you can pour into a baking cup or a dough that you can roll out? More Gluten or less?
When baking bread, do you want a dough that's paper thin and can cover a table top withuot breaking, like a strudel dough? Or do we want it to rise as a thick tall loaf? More Gluten or less?

The evening developed as Sarelle challenged us to make strudel doughs and filling some with sweet and savory fillings. YUM YUM!
And we also learned a great bonus product that can be made with the strudel dough ends!

Buy the end of the session, all the participants felt that, with their new knowledge of flours, measuring techniques and gluten, they can now prepare winning holiday treats with confidence.

Science in cooking and baking equals spectacular products.
Once the word is out, the Walder Kitchen Science Focus on Flour with Sarelle has been requested in Chicago, and other locations.

Stay tuned!