5. What is gluten and how is it developed?

What people call gluten is the formation of linkages between glutenin
and gliadin.  The "development" of dough consists of the formation of
these bonds.  These proteins have SH groups on them than can be
linked into S-S groups.   Just letting the sponge sit allows the
reaction to proceed which is why the French call this "long kneading"
i.e. you do nothing and the gluten is partially, developed.  This is
why, in a post to Bruce Hudson on sponge type breads I said that
dough could be developed mechanically, (by kneading), chemically (by
mixtures of oxidants and reductants) or fermentatively.  Very few
people realize that you can develop dough in all three ways:  they
learnt kneading was very important and are fixated on it.  In fact
kneading is absolutely essential only for straight dough breads.

Kneading, develops gluten by stretching out the proteins, &
increasing the rate at which, the molecules collide and the reaction
occurs.  Kneading also forms an ordered cohesive mass. The reaction
remains essentially,  a chemical reaction.  The virtue of kneading is
the mass is very uniform and the gluten can be developed very
extensively (homogenous and extensive cross-linking) to give very
strong loaves - which will rise spectacularly and have good
mechanical strength so you can make free form loaves fearlessly.
Most straight dough recipes develop all the gluten by kneading.

Many sponge type breads fall into the category where a lot of the
development is achieved by fermentation which allows less or in
Jeff's case no kneading. Allowing the gluten to develop by
fermentation, simply means that you give the dough sufficient time to
let the chemical reactions occur spontaneously i.e. the linkages will
form slowly over time.  The lattice of cross-linked gluten that forms
is not necessarily, as strong or as fully developed but this is
undoubtedly what Jeff is aiming for: French country bread is
characterized by an uneven crumb - by minimizing mechanical mixing he
keeps the mass non homogenous. The simple actions of the original
mixing, punch downs, shaping etc. also add a dimension of mechanical
development.  Relying solely on fermentative development means the
gluten will not be completely developed, the loaves will be weaker
i.e. you might have a hard time making a large free form loaf with
it.  By combining some fermentative and mechanical development you
can dramatically, alter the range of textures of your bread:  there
is an infinite spectrum of how long you ferment and how long you and
how intensely you knead.  By controlling these two you produce
dramatically, different breads.  This is one of the secrets to the
whole range of  "French" breads.  Jeff is at an extreme when he uses
no mechanical development at all.  Since he seems to make mainly
baguettes this is easy to do - you do not need a very strong dough to
hold its form in a baguette. I would be interested to know if your no
knead doughs allow you to form large free form loaves.

Several dough improvers including the so called natural conditioners
like ascorbic acid (Vitamin C, you will see that it is added to
nearly all commercial flour) are oxidants that facilitate the
reaction.  Similarly, the french add fava bean or soy bean flour
which has a lipoxygenase which oxidizes flour i.e. takes SH groups
and make them S-S i.e. forms linkages and also bleaches the
carotenoid pigments for a whiter crumb.  These conditioners have a
dramatic effect on the rate of the reaction and the extent to which
the reaction occurs.  I learnt this very dramatically, when I bought
my grain mill:  Flour that you buy has been aged or brominated (to
oxidize the flour which as explained above forms gluten strengthening
cross links & bleaches the carotenoid pigments).  Freshly  milled
flour does not have the benefit of these "improving" i.e. gluten
strengthening actions.  I noticed that my dough would "fall apart"
when kneading very very quickly.  This was because the flour was not
sufficiently oxidized when freshly milled.  This was fixed by adding
vitamin C and  freshly milled soy bean flour (I simply added back
oxidants! It is still not as strong as the strongest flour I worked
with.  No additions will allow you to turn out a decent loaf too -
you just need to know how to handle it).

In some commercial, operations the dough is developed by a long list
of chemicals (check any supermarket bread label) that are essential
oxidants or reductants and thus facilitate the reaction.  This
combined with a very intensive short 1 min mixing develops the dough
completely!

Just as the cross-links can form so can they break down.  This is
referred to as the dough becoming "slack" - very long fermented
doughs become slack because the cross-linking process reverses
itself.  In addition there are a number of chemicals naturally,
present in dough or from breakdown of yeasts that promote the
breakdown of the cross-links.  This is one of the reasons you cannot
hold the dough infinitely long in a fermentation to improve its
flavor.  In fact the reason why dry yeast should be reconstituted at
104-114 F is because at lower temps the yeast lyse and release
glutathione which affects the oxidation reduction reactions and
reverses them leading to slack or weak doughs.

-Roland

See also "http://www.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=365738380&fmt=text"