Ken Forkish, in his James Beard award winning cook book, Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: The Fundementals of Bread and Pizza, talks about flour, types, brands, differences in performance. My portfolio theme is inspired by Forkish's book title, however, I substituted Flour for Wheat.
There are lots of flours--rye flour, potato flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, barley flour, spelt flour--However none of them contain the magic of wheat. Wheat contains the protein gluten, when water is added to flour the gluten binds to form strong bands, made stronger by kneading.
When yeast is added, either as sourdough starter or as granulated store bought yeast, the unicellular fungi begins to ferment. When yeast ferments it consumes the sugar in the wheat the off gassing of carbon dioxide, the by product of the yeast's metabolic processes pushes the gluten bands upward creating the structures within bread.
There are lots of flours--rye flour, potato flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, barley flour, spelt flour--However none of them contain the magic of wheat. Wheat contains the protein gluten, when water is added to flour the gluten binds to form strong bands, made stronger by kneading.
When yeast is added, either as sourdough starter or as granulated store bought yeast, the unicellular fungi begins to ferment. When yeast ferments it consumes the sugar in the wheat the off gassing of carbon dioxide, the by product of the yeast's metabolic processes pushes the gluten bands upward creating the structures within bread.