cakes, griddle cakes, and cookies. For tender
preparations, bakers intentionally limit the
development of gluten. There are a number of
ingredients and techniques by which the baker
controls the gluten strength and consistency of
doughs and batters. They include:
The kind of flour used. High-protein
bread flours produce a strong gluten,
low-protein pastry and cake flours a
weak one, durum semolina (for pasta) a
strong but plastic one.
The presence in the flour of oxidizing
substances — aging and improving
agents — which can increase the end-to-
end linking of glutenin molecules and
thus dough strength (p. 529).
The water content of the dough, which
determines how concentrated the gluten
proteins are, and how extensively they
can bond to each other. Little water gives
an incompletely developed gluten and a
crumbly texture; a lot of water gives a