Wheat plays an important role as global commodity due to its gluten-forming proteins, which are capable of having extensibility and elasticity required for bakery products and pasta.
Two important proteins in the endosperm of wheat kernels are the gluten-forming proteins, glutenin and gliadin. In fact, wheat is the only common cereal grain that contains sufficient glutenin and gliadin for the formation of good-quality gluten for bread and pasta making.
Wheat flour quality is directly related to the wheat gluten formed by mixing the flour with water and with the use of appropriate application of mechanical work to form a viscoelastic network, whose structure is the basis for bakery products and pasta.
Gluten may be defined as the ‘cohesive, visco-elastic proteinaceous material prepared as a by-product obtained by isolation of starch from wheat flour. A biological definition might include the origins of the gluten–protein complex as being derived from the ‘storage proteins of the wheat grain’.
Chunks of protein (6–18 percent) act as the cement that holds starch granules in place in the endosperm. Together, glutenin and gliadin, the gluten-forming proteins, make up about 80 percent of the proteins in the endosperm.
Gluten in
wheat flour
