Alright, let’s talk about low-gluten flour. I got curious about it the other day, so I decided to do a little digging and try some stuff out.
What is this thing anyway?
First off, I hit up the internet, just typing in “what is low-gluten flour” into the search bar. Turns out, it’s exactly what it sounds like – flour with less gluten. Gluten, as I learned, is that protein that makes dough all stretchy and chewy. So, low-gluten flour has less of that protein, which means it won’t develop as much of that chewiness when you mix it up with water.
Why would anyone use this?
This got me wondering, why would someone use flour with less gluten? Well, apparently, it’s great for things you don’t want to be super chewy, like cakes, pastries, and cookies. The less gluten, the more tender and crumbly the baked goods will be. Makes sense, right? I remembered some of those cakes I made that ended up super tough, maybe I used the wrong flour.
My little experiment
So, I grabbed some regular all-purpose flour from my pantry, and I also found some cake flour, which I read is a type of low-gluten flour. I figured, let’s see this in action! I decided to make some simple sugar cookies with both types of flour, following the same recipe otherwise.
- I mixed up one batch of dough with the all-purpose flour, it got pretty elastic pretty quick.
- Then, I made another batch with the cake flour. This dough felt totally different, much softer and less sticky.
- I baked both batches, same temperature, same amount of time.
The results are in!
The cookies made with all-purpose flour were definitely chewier, and they spread out a bit more in the oven. The ones made with cake flour, though, they were super tender and held their shape better. They practically melted in my mouth!
It was a pretty cool little experiment. I definitely see now why people use low-gluten flour for certain things. It really does make a difference in the texture of your baked goods. If you’re aiming for something delicate and crumbly, low-gluten is the way to go. I’ll be keeping that in mind for my next baking adventure, maybe a pie crust this time!
