constitutes the bulk of the bread or cake The outer surface, which usually has a dryer, denser texture, is the crust With this overview in mind, let’s look more closely at the structural elements of doughs and batters Gluten Chew on a small piece of dough, and it becomes more compact but persists as a gumlike, elastic mass, the residue that the Chinese named “the muscle of flour” and that we call gluten It consists mainly of protein, and includes what may well be the largest protein molecules to be found in the natural world These remarkable molecules are what give wheat dough its liveliness and make raised breads possible Gluten Proteins Form Long Chains That Stick to Each Other Gluten is a complex mixture of certain wheat proteins that can’t dissolve in water, but 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 ... 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. .. 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... 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