Flour.. gluten?!

The choice of flour is one of the most important thing, when baking. Elasticity and chewiness (of ciabatta bread) is caused by protein connections. The protein content of flour should therefore be considered. When making bread, a high content of proteins are often to prefer, but for cakes a low protein content should be chosen. 

Sooo what is gluten.

Gluten is the linkage/bonds between gluten proteins in wheat flour through a complex process. The proteins are called gliadin and glutenin. They form a network called gluten, connected most importantly by disulfide bonds but also by tyrosine bonds, hydrogen bonds and hydrophobe interactions.

The gluten network are made when water is added to the dough and when the dough is being kneaded (so the proteins come close to eachother) and baked.

Reduction will cleave the disulfide bonds.

The disulfide bonds can be broken if the dough is made acidic, by for example vinegar and lemon or lime juice. So by adding this to a cake batter, the cake will become less elastic and more cake-ish. 

apple pie

Baking is one of my big passions.. Todays attempt is apple pie.. It might be partly french apple pie and partly mine.

crust bottom:
366 grams flour
56 boiling hot water
1-2 eggs
1 teaspoon white vinegar
50 grams white sugar
200 grams salted butter room temperature
mix all ingredients, but don't knead it too much. spread the dough in the tin

apple filling:
about 8 semi sour apple
2 limes
a bit of acacia honey
cinnamon
vanilla
25-50 gram salted butter
sugar
warm all ingredients in the pan (except the apples), and taste it.. add more of the wanted ingredients if it doesn't taste exactly right (sweet and sour).. add the apples and "boil" for about 5 min, then put in tin on top of the dough. make sure not to add to much liquid in the tin.. that makes the bottom crust greasy.

crust top:
salted butter
flour
sugar
add flour and sugar until it's nice and thick and then crumble it on top of the apples in the tin.