The gliadin imparts
elasticity and tenacity, or toughness, to the gluten, and the glutenin
gives it strength. It is not, however, so much the quantity of gluten in
the wheat grain that actually determines the quality of flour as the
fact that the two varieties must be present in the proper proportions
in order for the gluten to have the properties desired for bread making.
Wheat consists of numerous varieties, but only two of these are grown
and used in the United States, namely, _spring_, or _hard, wheat_ and
_winter_, or _soft, wheat_.
10. SPRING, OR HARD WHEAT is so named because it is sown in the spring
of the year and is very tough or firm. Before this variety was known,
the wheat used for bread making was not ideal, and the efforts that were
made to produce a grain that would be suitable for this purpose resulted
in this variety. To obtain its particular composition, spring wheat must
be grown under suitable climatic and soil conditions. In North America,
it grows in the north central part of the United States and along the
southern border of Canada. This variety, which is harvested in the late
summer, is characterized by a large proportion of gluten and a
correspondingly small amount of starch. It is the presence of the gluten
that accounts for the hardness of the spring-wheat grain and the tough,
elastic quality of the dough made from the spring-wheat flour.
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