Extracting Gluten From Flour - Home



Extracting Gluten from FlourRhythm Jethi & Andrew HaGrade 9David Thompson Secondary SchoolTable of ContentsItem PageAbstract2Purpose3Materials3Procedure4Review of Literature5Results7Conclusion9Acknowledgements10Bibliography111AbstractOur experiment was to see which flours were best for people who want or need to eat gluten-free, like people with celiac disease. Gluten is a sugar that gives foods in the grains food group their texture. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, and the only treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet. We tested four flours: all purpose, pure white, whole wheat, and gluten-free. We added water to flour to create a dough ball, kneaded it, then rinsed it with water until the non-soluble gluten remained. We then weighed what was left, and compared the weights. Our hypothesis was that the whole wheat flour would have the most gluten, which the results proved to be true. The pure white flour had the second most gluten, while the all-purpose flour had the least gluten. The gluten-free flour had no gluten at all, which was expected.2PurposeQuestionWhich flours would be good for someone trying to lead a low gluten lifestyle?HypothesisIf we separate soluble substances from gluten in flour, then whole wheat flour will have the most gluten.Materials300 ml gluten-free flour (Control)300 ml pure white flour (A)300 ml all-purpose flour (B)300 ml whole wheat flour (C)700 ml wateroil to reduce stickiness4 bowls1 kitchen scale1 sieve3ProcedureWash hands.Into separate bowls, measure out 250 ml of each of your flours. Label the flours according to the materials list. Make observations about the flours.Slowly add 175 ml water to the flour in bowl A. Let it sit, then add the remaining 50 ml of flour to the mixture, and stir until incorporated. Put oil on your hands and knead the mixture for 5 minutes until it forms a soft, rubbery ball of dough.Repeat with B through D and control.Let the balls sit for ten minutes.Take ball A out of its bowl. Place the bowl on your kitchen scale and zero it, then place the ball back into the bowl and record the weight. Repeat with all of your dough balls. Record your data.Put the sieve in a sink. Hold dough ball A above the sieve. Run cold water it. Cup your hands around the ball and squeeze gently to remove the starch. Do this until your dough ball becomes a sticky, stringy ball. Set aside.Repeat for dough balls B through D, but not control. Compare your stringy gluten. Which flour is stickiest? Which is lightest in colour? Record your observations.4Take ball A out of its bowl. Place the bowl on your kitchen scale and zero it, then place the ball back into the bowl and record the weight. Repeat with all of your dough balls. Record your data.Since the control dough ball does not have any gluten, you can subtract the weights of the stringy gluten from the gluten-free dough ball to see which type of flour has the most gluten and which has the least. Record your results.Dispose of the gluten and wash your hands.Review of literatureWhen we researched the main source of our project (gluten) we found out that gluten is a substitute for meat or soy. People who do not eat meat choose gluten as another option. Gluten turns your food chewy, stretchy, and gives it texture.We found another project that had been done on the same topic as ours called on a website called Exploratorium. One of the differences between our project and their project was that they only tested three flours while we tested four. They did not use gluten free flour as their control. Also, they did not use any oil on their dough to make it less sticky while we did. At the end of our experiment, we measured our gluten according to its weight, but they measured it according to the diameter of each ball of gluten. The procedure was the same except after extracting the gluten, they had baked their gluten balls in the oven for about 15–30 minutes at 450°F. They noticed that these balls hardened up like they do when bread is baked. The 5experiment did not thoroughly discuss its procedure and it did not completely list its materials, but they included many facts about gluten. On their website, they did not include much other than their procedure and some facts about gluten. Comparing meat to glutenGluten is a protein found in certain grains. It gives elasticity to dough, helps it rise, helps it keep its shape, and gives a chewy texture. Gluten is also used in some cosmetics, hair products, and other beauty products. Gluten is extracted from flour by kneading the flour, and washing away the unneeded material. It was discovered when Buddhist monks in the 7th century, who were vegetarians, were trying to find a substitute for meat. They discovered that when they submerged dough in water, the starch washed off and all that was left was a meat-like, textured, gummy mass: gluten.Elasticity Elasticity is the state of being flexible and stretchy; having buoyancy. Most solids like plastics and metals are elastic; they go through a process of pressure applied to the material. There is still a limit to its reformation depending on which material can return to its original shape after the force is removed. Each object has its own elastic limit. Applying a force greater than the elastic limit of the material causes it to bend permanently or crack. To stretch an elastic material, the force is applied depending on the stiffness of the material; this is called "elastic modulus". Hooke’s Law is a law that shows the relationship between the forces applied to a 6spring and its elasticity.ResultsMasses of the Flours during the ExperimentFlourInitial mass (g)Mass after adding water (g)Mass after rinsing (g)Gluten-free (control)177346All washed awayPure white (A)17234778All purpose (B)14833871Whole wheat (C)1693451057Percent Change in MassFlourChange between initial mass and mass after adding water (%)Change between mass after adding water and mass after rinsing (%)Change from initial mass to mass after rinsing (%)Gluten-free (control)+195.480-100.000-100.000Pure white (A)+201.744-22.478-45.349All purpose (B)+228.378-21.006-47.973Whole wheat (C)+204.142-30.435-62.1308ConclusionOur results support our hypothesis. We hypothesized that whole wheat flour would have the most gluten in it. We predicted that the flour with the second highest gluten content would be all purpose flour, and that pure white flour would have the least gluten of the three. Our next prediction was that gluten free flour would have no gluten. We were right about whole wheat flour having the most gluten, but the flour with the second most gluten was pure and the flour with the least gluten was all purpose. As expected, the gluten free flour did not have any gluten.DiscussionThe results proved our hypothesis to be correct. The whole wheat flour had the most gluten out of the four flours. We think this is because the majority of carbohydrates in wheat are starches, which contain gluten. The whole wheat flour had 105 g of gluten, 27 g more than the flour with the second highest amount of gluten–the pure white. The whole wheat flour lost the most mass in the experiment, but what was really interesting was that the all-purpose flour gained the most mass after adding water. However, it had the lowest gluten content. After rinsing the dough balls, the all-purpose flour lost about the same amount of mass as the pure white flour. We predicted that the pure white flour would have less gluten than all-purpose flour, but this was proved incorrect. The pure white flour had 78 g of gluten, 97 g more than the all-purpose with 71 g of gluten.To refine our experiment, we could have done some things differently. For example, we could have used something more accurate than a kitchen scale to weigh the flours, like a digital balance. Another thing we could have done differently was that we could have timed how long it took to rinse all the soluble parts away. Then, we could have compared these times to see how much each flour had. We could have also used more kinds of flour to get a better idea of which flours are high or low in gluten.An application of our results could be for the treatments for people who have celiac disease. By determining which flours have the least gluten, scientists and doctors could come up with comprehensive diets that fit the needs of people with celiac disease. The same could be for people who do not have celiac disease, but want to live gluten-free lifestyles to lose weight or for other reasons.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank our science teacher Mr. Danny Borges for guiding us throughout the process. We would also like to thank Ms. Hitu Jethi for helping us during the experiment. Lastly, we would like to thank Kevin Dhir for giving us the idea for the experiment. Thank you.10BibliographyAnderson, Jane. "Is Soy Gluten-Free? Yes ... But."?. , 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <, Louise, MD. "The Truth About Gluten."?WebMD. WebMD, 02 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. <;."Diagnosis & Treatment."?National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, 2011. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <;."Five Good Reasons for Eating Meat."?Agriculture & Food. Danish Agriculture & Food Council, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. <;."Gluten-free Diet: What's Allowed, What's Not."?Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 20 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <;."Great Globs of Gluten! Which Wheat Flour Has The Most?"?Science Buddies. Science Buddies, 2014. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. <, Anne. "Gluten Free Flour Facts."?Kosher Celiac Cookery. N.p., 2012. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. <, Loveleena. "What Is Gluten."?. , 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. <;."Science of Bread: Great Balls of Gluten Activity."?Exploratorium. Exploratorium, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <;."What Role Does Gluten Play in Bread Making?"?BakeInfo. Baking Industry Research Trust, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. <, Devon. "Facts About Elastic."?EHow. Demand Media, 11 July 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. < ................
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