Everything You Need To Know About Vital Wheat Gluten

Monday, 14-Dec-2020 |

Everything You Need To Know About Vital Wheat Gluten

With the change in the people’s perspective regarding their health, there has been a drastic change in the quality and quantity of the food they consume. People are looking forward to skipping all types of junk food and prefer a healthy diet full of vegetables and fruits. But when it comes to baking, the commonly used flour is white flour or all-purpose flour. This flour is not as nutritious as whole wheat flour. So after being aware of it, people have started substituting whole wheat flour instead of white flour for baking bread and cookies. There is yet another important ingredient that is quite healthy – Vital Wheat Gluten.

What Do You Mean By Vital Wheat Gluten?

Vital wheat gluten is basically a super-powered flour in which you would find a high level of gluten and very little starch. You might be wondering whether it can be categorized as flour or not. Well, if you see technically, vital wheat gluten cannot be listed among the flours, but it’s made from wheat flour. Vital wheat gluten is formed by hydrating the wheat flour in order to activate the gluten and then processed to remove everything but gluten. This is completely dried and then turned into powder.

Why Does Anyone Need Vital Wheat Gluten?

Have you heard about seitan? If yes, then the main ingredient in the seitan is vital wheat gluten. Seitan is popularly known as wheat meat. This is consumed by the people as a substitute for meat. Besides being used in seitan, vital wheat gluten is also used in the form of a binding agent, for instance, you can make use of vital wheat gluten in binding mushrooms or chickpea to hold their shape.

Vital wheat gluten has the ability to improve the crumb as well as the chewiness of a variety of bread, especially when using low-protein flours such as whole wheat or rye. You just need to add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten and it will give you the best results – a perfect loaf of bread!

From Where Can You Buy Vital Wheat Gluten?

Well, finding vital wheat gluten is not difficult. You can find them in any baking section of the supermarket. You can also get it from various online stores or directly from the local flour mills.

How Long Does The Vital Wheat Gluten Remain Fresh?

How Long Does The Vital Wheat Gluten Remain Fresh

Generally, vital wheat gluten has a very long shelf life as compared to other flours. You can store vital wheat gluten in a cool dry place and it will remain fresh even after 7 – 10 years if unopened. Once you open the packet, you should use it up within 6 months or store it in the freezer if you want to extend its shelf life.

How beneficial is vital wheat gluten?

How beneficial is vital wheat gluten

1. Vital wheat gluten has extremely high elasticity as well as swelling power, which means you just have to add a few teaspoons to make the dough rise. If you are not adding vital wheat gluten, the baked food would not have the moisture and appear dry and rough.

2. Vital wheat gluten is helpful in enhancing the quality of the dough. You can make use of wheat gluten for both white flour and wheat flour.

3. According to experts, it was shown that bread or dough made by making use of vital wheat gluten have a long spoilage period and can be easily preserved.

4. Vital wheat gluten has a high nutritional value due to which it is considered a part of a healthy diet. It is considered being a rich source of phosphorus.

5. Vital wheat gluten has low fat, and it is helpful in keeping your weight in check. Due to this reason, it is called a heart-friendly and nutritionally safe food item.

Do You Think Vital Wheat Gluten Is Bad For You?

Well, it is an extremely healthy food, but it could not be good for you if you are allergic to celiac or have a gluten sensitivity.

Summary:

So now you are aware of all the things of vital wheat gluten. It is basically a healthy protein that is extracted from wheat. It can be popularly used for baking delicious as well as healthy items which would be full of nutritional values.