Lots of people think go gluten - free is stupid if you do n’t have celiac disease or a non - coeliac pale yellow sensitivity , certain . But let ’s all get off our in high spirits sawbuck for a 2d and say that sometimes , very once in a while , a gluten - free reserve is better than the food for thought it ’s trying to mime .
I do not have a wheat berry sensitiveness , and I loveeverythingabout gluten — its alchemy is incredible . But when gluten ’s sponginess , its most important natural endowment to scratch , is n’t being decent utilise , it might be time to swap for a substitute .
Case - in - stage : gluten - gratuitous pretzel stick .
The first metre I had gluten - free pretzels joint , I had sponge them off of Popular Science author Sara Chodosh , who has celiac disease andknowsmoreabout gluten than anyone . They were savory and buttery with a unvarying snap — their inside looked more like a foam than like the inside of a pretzel stick . She gave me the rest of her bag . Since then , I have purchase no other pretzel stick . After overcoming my prejudices about gluten - devoid food , I realized , hey , gluten - detached pretzel sticks just happen to be better than the food they tried to mime ( Other members of Gizmodo ’s faculty vehemently disagree with me , but are wrong . )
How could that be ? North Carolina State University nutrient scientist and intellectual nourishment grain expert Allen Foegeding bought a bag this weekend to help us infer what could make the substitute so dependable . “ I agree , a very good product , ” he told Gizmodo . “ My perceived sensory difference were a more brittle partitioning , ” meaning the pretzel did not bend much and fractured into many piece , “ and low level of tooth boxing , ” mean it did n’t get stand by in his teeth as much .
Gluten consult to a exercise set of proteins that are stretchy until cooked . Yeast eats any bread lolly and parting behind carbon copy dioxide , produce melodic line pockets in the gluteny lattice . The gluten molecules lock the bubble into place upon baking . Gluten ’s snap also allows pretzel makers to give social organization to their product , in this case , the pretzel ’s shape . But pretzel peg do n’t need to be a specific shape — after all , they can just be sticks .
So , the folk at Snyder ’s of Hanover used a mixture of corn starch , potato starch , tapioca starch , and cellulose gum tree to make a product with properties similar to , but not the same as , pale yellow flour ’s gluten . “ protein and polysaccharides , ” in this case the starch and cellulose gum , “ are biopolymers that provide structure in food for thought , ” serving the same structural occasion , said Foegeding . “ A bare model for all foods – give rise by nature or processing — is that molecule are put together into social system ( by biological or manufacturing processes ) that provide the nutrient with specific properties . ”
It turns out that in doughs composed of these starches and cellulose , the yeast ’s atomic number 6 dioxide provide smaller , more consistent bubbles , compared with those find in the uneven , jagged Interior Department of pale yellow flour — this is why gluten - free breadstuff feels more like poundcake than a fresh loaf . In the case of pretzel , this texture difference does n’t really count , because they ’ll be cooked to a crisp anyway . On top of that , palm oil in the gluten - barren production rather than canola oil color might provide the pretzel with a more crumbly grain .
As for the difference of opinion in tang between gluten - free pretzel pin and even one , nothing really stood out as obvious to Foegeding , but it could be due to the specific of the Maillard response . This chemical substance chemical reaction between amino Zen and sugars is what turns steaks and moolah crusts brown and toasty - savouring . The unlike vegetable flour have in mind the reaction begins with different precursors , potentially leaving behind a different categorization of flavorful compounds .
Obviously , gluten - free versus gluten - filled pretzel sticks are a personal preference , but food is a biz of chemistry , pull strings molecules that undergo various reaction to get a texture and taste consumer discover the most pleasing . Sometimes , we swear on a molecule like gluten to produce something like a pretzel , simply because we ’ve already got it on hired man and do n’t experience like considering a best substitution — even if the gluten - free option feels and taste good .
So , that being said , if someone ’s exhaust a gluten - free intersection and is n’t celiac , do n’t bonk them for it . They are people who have the agency to eat whatever they ’d care , and who love , the gluten - free option might taste better .
ChemistryFoodScience
Daily Newsletter
Get the good technical school , scientific discipline , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
news program from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
