Science of Gluten in Scallion Pancakes + tomorrow's workout 💪( 4/14/21 - 8am PST / 11am EST)
First, streak announcements!
Avni hit the half century mark (50!!) and I’m back on the board (2!)
Next, what is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat products. ... Gluten makes bread airy and satisfyingly chewy—it's hard to imagine enjoying a chewy cake or a bread that crumbles like a cookie. Gluten is formed when two of wheat's native proteins, glutenin and gliadin, come into contact with water.
That definition that made it really hard for me to determine exactly what I was going for when altering the texture of a scallion pancake. In particular, this phrase confused me “it's hard to imagine enjoying a chewy cake or a bread that crumbles like a cookie”
I kinda wanted my pancake to be light like cake but certainly not crumbly like a cookie.
So did I want lots of gluten or less gluten? That question alone was puzzling. Then once I chose one direction, there were a ton of inputs that could affect that.
Here are just a few things that alter gluten development and strength in dough:
gluten content in the flour
temperature of water
amount of kneading time
amount of rest time
At first I thought the texture in my head I wanted was a very chewy one (again, very hard to fully understand what that word means to people). So with that I chose the high gluten paths. That meant bread flour (high gluten) and cold water.
I essentially spent many iterations assuming that was the right combo to start with (a bunch of recipes online use that combination). Because of that I spun my wheels working through different types of oil and different ratios of water to flour.
At the end of the day, I found a mid / lower level amount of gluten got me the texture I needed plus a dough formation technique common in light airy asian breads (scalding the flour) was the key.
Scalding flour with boiling water, in contrast, activates another chemical reaction entirely-- starch gelatinization. Instead of being absorbed by the protein, the hot water is absorbed into the starch molecules. That leaves the gliadin and glutenin (the proteins in flour responsible for creating gluten) bereft of the water they need for strong gluten formation.
So all purpose flour + scalding the flour FTW!
Tomorrow? Rolling techniques….
On to the workout...
Zoom Link (bookmark this): https://dfinity.zoom.us/j/968135012?pwd=RVEyOWdwSkZKWDdCdnJyMW9iVVYydz09
Workout Streaks💫🌟⭐️ :
Sanjay Amin - 55💫💫🌟🌟🌟
Avni Amin - 50💫💫🌟🌟
Rachael Cruthirds - 12🌟🌟⭐️⭐️
Jay - 2⭐️⭐️ (BACK ON THE BOARD!)
Tomorrow’s Workout:
Circuit (5x)
Do-si-do + 1 leg jump squat
Plank Rows
Buzzsaw plank
Side Leg Lifts
Tricep Dips
Wildcard
Recommended Equipment:
weights / wine bottles / books
Ledge / chair
DIY Links:
https://www.hiitclock.com/timer?id=COy6U02fHUxmAxlY0okZ&userId=26XSsxo48mOHO0pmxRpX1yGkcYi2
2000s workout -
See you at 8am/11am!
-Jason
p.s. 💁🏼♀️🤳If you’d like me to tag you in my fantastic Instagram stories, add me on IG and Twitter so I get your handles. W00t -> instagram.com/jayyehtwitter.com/jayyehnce upon a time, there was a workout…
p.p.s I’m going to start including a link to my podcast Funded and my company Adamant Ventures’ site here in case you all (Google’s site crawlers included) are interested in stories or insights about fundraising!