OFF THE SHELF
Gluten flour high in protein, low in carbohydrates

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Just a small amount of this fine-textured golden flour helps heavy breads rise more readily, creating a springy, taffylike dough and helping to lock in the gas and steam when baking, to create a lighter, puffier result. The protein binds moisture, meaning your bread and baked goods will usually be more moist and "fresh" than traditional baking yields.

Vegetarians use gluten flour to make seitan, a protein food with a springy texture and the ability to sop up flavors from broth or gravy. To make seitan, the flour is blended with warm water to form a sticky dough, then washed in repeated changes of water until it adheres and has a resilient texture. The seitan is then cut into the desired shape and cooked like meat.

Use this ingredient when you are baking with rye, barley, millet, oats or other heavy, glutenless grains, or when a yeast bread recipe calls for a lot of whole grains or heavy added ingredients such as nuts, seeds and dried fruits. Flourless bread recipes, such as those made with soy flour, rely on gluten flour for rising. Most recipes call for a ratio of 1 tablespoon of gluten flour for every cup of other flour.

Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour is a brand readily found in Hawai'i and contains 75 percent to 80 percent protein and about 24 grams of carbohydrate per cup (as compared with 92 to 97 grams of carbohydrate per cup for all-purpose white flour). It is among the brands that are particularly low in carbohydrate and so favored by those on reduced-carbohydrate diets (see the Web site lowcarbluxury.com).

All gluten products (as well as soy flours) should be refrigerated or frozen as they contain their natural fats and no preservatives and can therefore become rancid.