Gluten in noodles

Gluten is a protein. It is a substance found in the grains of wheat and related plants, including barley and rye. It is present in a part of the grain called the endosperm. Since wheat is high in gluten and most noodle is made from wheat flour, conventional noodle is high in gluten.

Wheat gluten polymer does not only play an important role as a main structural component in wheat dough or bread, it is also applied in biomaterials like films, gels, foams, or bioplastics, due to its unique viscoelasticity and low water solubility.

Noodles are made from dough of wheat flour mixed with water during which the conjugation of gliadin and glutenin, as the main components of wheat proteins, forms a gluten network structure. This network forms the structure of dough and influences dough properties such as elasticity and viscosity.

The structure and properties of the gluten network are determined by both non-covalent and covalent bonds. However, the most influence is exerted by the number and distribution of disulphide bonds (SS), which are dependent on environmental and genetic factors.

In noodles, the gluten network affects the viscoelasticity of the dough and determines the quality of the end product.

The carbon dioxide causes the dough to increase in volume and rise, but this increase in volume occurs only because gluten supports the dough surrounding the pockets of carbon dioxide.

In conventional methods for producing fried noodles, the noodle sheet is made from dough using a rolling-press followed by repeated compressions to gradually reduce the thickness to obtain the final rolled noodle sheet with a dense and well-dispersed gluten network.
Gluten in noodles