Have you noticed an ingredient called Vital Wheat Gluten (VWG) in baking recipes in your favorite books and cooking sites? If you have, and you don't know what the recipe is asking for or where you can get your hands on it, you are not alone. We don't enjoy the texture or taste of regular white bread in our home. I remember, my Mum always looked out for whole wheat, whole grain, or multi grain breads when we went grocery shopping. When I started baking bread in my home, I always went for recipes with whole grain flour. While I always got a beautiful loaf, indeed just like the one I sometimes buy at our local bakery, I also found that it was also the kind of loaf best eaten fresh - on the day it was baked. Keeping it over 48 hours inevitably resulted in it becoming hard and completely unsliceable!!
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| Vital Wheat Gluten |
So I began to wonder what I was getting wrong. A little digging here and there led to the revelation that pastry chefs and bakers use an ingredient in their bread baking that plays an important role in improving the texture and quality of their dough. This ingredient is Vital Wheat Gluten. So what exactly is VWG? VWG is the pure protein portion of the grain. It is separated from the grain using water, dried, and then powdered.
And why use it? VWG is what gives you a beautiful loaf of bread. Just a few tablespoons per recipe is enough to improve the elasticity and volume of the dough as it rises. This in turn allows your bread to hold a beautiful shape and develop a great texture and crumb when baked. It can also improve the taste of home baked goods while extending their freshness. VWG is especially useful when you make breads using low gluten flours whole wheat flour, rye flour, and oat flour. You can also add it to gluten free that you may use for baking including amaranth flour, buckwheat flour, millet flour, and even cornmeal.
While VWG has only recently become accessible reasonably easily to home bakers. You can find it in the flour aisle of the supermarket, and most local coops, organic food stores and health food stores carry it. You can also order it online.
Recipes with Vital Wheat Gluten
