On Food and Cooking

mixture of certain wheat proteins that can’t
dissolve in water, but do form associations
with water molecules and with each other.
When the proteins are dry, they’re immobile
and inert. When wetted with water, they can
change their shape, move relative to each
other, and form and break bonds with each
other.
Proteins are long, chain-like molecules
built up from smaller molecules called amino
acids (p. 805). Most of the gluten proteins, the
gliadins and the glutenins, are around a
thousand amino acids long. The gliadin chains
fold onto themselves in a compact mass, and
bond only weakly with each other and with the
glutenin proteins. The glutenins, however,
bond with each other in several ways to form
an extensive, tightly knit network.
At each end of the glutenin chain are
sulfur-containing amino acids that can form
strong sulfur-sulfur bonds with the same
amino acids at the ends of other glutenin