Book of American Baking / A Practical Guide Covering Various Branches of the Baking Industry, Including Cakes, Buns, and Pastry, Bread Making, Pie Baking, Etc.

by Various

The gluten of wheat flour swells considerably in water, but is not soluble.

In the dry state it is horny and brittle.

When moist it soon ferments and quickly putrifies.

Fig. 1.

Gluten is classified as an albuminoid, but is not soluble in either a weak or concentrated acetic acid solution. When boiled in a soda solution it becomes partially soluble.

On account of this characteristic it is closely allied to those albuminoids known as fibrin, which is found in large proportions in animal blood. In contrast to blood-fibrin gluten may be said to be vegetable-fibrin.

The gluten of wheat flour is not a simple body, therefore not an element, but is composed of four varieties of albuminoids: vegetable albumin, vegetable casein, vegetable fibrin and gluten itself.