RL140526 Lecture 9: Proteins

Staring at the computer screen for a solid 20 minutes, typing words and deleting it. Okay, I have a confession to make, I didn't know what to write for this week's reflective, plus I almost forgot to write this too.. *sheepishly hiding myself away* Yeah, not sure for what reason, this week, I wasn't really in a focus mode, I found it hard to concentrate in class. It's not about the tight schedule (in fact, this is the free-est I've had in this semester) , or even about the uncompleted assignments other classmates are worrying about (I've completed mine way looong before the holiday ends). Anyway, there's nothing to dwell into, and I shall move on and get going...

RL140526 Lecture 9: Gluten, nothing to be afraid of...

We started a new chapter on proteins. Dr. Chong forgot to upload the notes, and I didn't remind her too.. my bad.. Felt kinda uneasy as I didn't have a hard copy to refer to when I needed to jot down some notes. But I think this is a better way for me, as there will be less distractions, so I'll pay full attention during the class, and I could remember better too. So now, it's time to test my memory and understanding, let's recap on what we've learnt: *I've not printed the set of notes yet so I've nothing to refer to

The focus of the lecture was on gluten: What makes wheat flour unique and different from other flour is gluten? It is the protein network formed from the interaction between wheat storage proteins (gliadin & glutenin) and water, when kneading is introduced. As gluten develops, it gives structure and chewiness to the product. In other words, wheat flour technically contains no gluten if it has not been interacting with water AND kneaded. Hah! Smell something fishy? Who knows how would some unethical manufacturers label their normal flour as gluten-free, and get away with it? Awareness, guys! Though I'm at total opposition of this whole "gluten=toxin" mindset (the power of marketing and consumer's ignorance, once again), it still matters for those who are allergic to gluten. 

Gluten free products are getting more popular in Asia, thanks to the influence from the West.

What's the big fuss about gluten anyway? In case you haven't known about the relationship between celiac disease and gluten, you can read it here. Though it can be quite fatal, it's not a prevalent disease in Asia, so why care about that when gluten has so many usage in food, especially when the staple food in Asia very much depends on it? Trust me, a gluten-allergic can't survive in Asia, cause gluten is everywhere...

Even in McDonalds!!! *kay fine, bad example.. their buns already contains gluten, just wanna show something Asian... =X

So, as you can see, gluten is not only important in making bread, as most of us understood. It also plays important roles in all kinds of wheat flour products. Different composition, ratio of gliadin to glutenin, and processing method also affects the performance of flour. Low protein flour are used to make cakes and biscuits, medium protein flour are used to make noodles, pastries, etc, while high protein flour are used to make bread. While the gluten network in breads is formed by kneading, the one in noodles/dumpling wraps are formed upon resting. This gives a difference in the texture, whereby the one bread is more nicely formed, thus, higher elasticity, and the one in noodles are more compact and not as elastic. However, the springiness of noodles can actually be improved by adding lye water. 

Vegetarian meat is also mostly made of gluten. It's even the protein source for vegetarians...

All in all, gluten a very important protein structure in determining the texture of wheat flour products. It needs water and kneading to develop, while the way it forms can be manipulated by different processing methods or additives, or simply using different kind of flour. Gluten is just as common as rice to us. Just stop this whole gluten-paranoia already.. 

Had enough of gluten already? Let's have something gluten-free... *wink*

Google wishes everyone a happy Dragon Boat festival!!! xD

Cheers!

Dong