Intro
There are so many questions about gluten. Is it the enemy? Can’t we just take it out? Can I have gluten if I’m allergic or intolerant to it? (Here’s another post expanding on that). Gluten is not a substance that just “exists” in bread. The wheat proteins gliadin and glutenin exist in bread. When flour is hydrated and worked by mixing, kneading, or even the simple stirring of a batter, these two proteins link together into a stretchy, interconnected network. And “gluten” is the name for the strands that are formed from those proteins.
Gliadin contributes extensibility (the ability to stretch), while glutenin contributes elasticity (the ability to spring back). Together they form a matrix strong enough to trap the carbon dioxide produced by yeast or other leaveners, which is what allows bread to rise and hold its shape instead of collapsing.
Some Nerdy Stuff
Gliadin – contributes extensibility (the ability to stretch). Think of it as the protein that lets dough get pulled thin without tearing.
Glutenin – contributes elasticity (the ability to spring back). This is the protein responsible for dough resisting deformation and snapping back into shape after you poke it or pull it.
Together they form a matrix strong enough to trap the carbon dioxide produced by yeast or other leaveners, which is what allows bread to rise and hold its shape instead of collapsing.
I.e. Gluten strands MUST be formed for bread to physically be able to rise.
Yeast (or baking powder, or whatever leavener you’re using) is constantly producing gas as it works. But gas alone doesn’t make bread rise; gas just wants to escape. What actually makes bread rise is having a structure strong enough to catch that gas and hold it in place, stretching around each bubble like a balloon instead of letting it slip out. That structure is gluten!
No network, no trapped gas. No trapped gas, no rise. It’s mechanical, the dough is basically a web of stretchy protein strands, inflating like thousands of tiny balloons packed together, and that web only exists because gliadin and glutenin found each other and linked up.
Happy baking and remember, all glory to the one who created it all! ✝️
