Vital wheat gluten consists of the concentrated gluten protein in wheat flour. This protein helps bread to rise and hold its structure when you bake a yeast or sourdough risen bread. Substitutes for vital wheat gluten can be found in traditional supermarkets. Whether baking wheat bread and lacking the required additional vital wheat gluten or making a gluten-free baked product, there are several substitutes for vital wheat gluten.
Bread Flour
Omit vital wheat gluten and the flour from a recipe and replace both with bread flour in an equal amount. Bread flour naturally contains gluten. When used in yeast bread recipes, it does not require the addition of vital wheat gluten to the bread dough mixture.
Xanthum Gum
Xanthum gum frequently appears in gluten free baking to replace the gluten from wheat flour. Add one teaspoon of either xanthum gum to your recipe for every cup of flour or gluten free flour used in your recipe. Look for xanthum gum in health food stores.
High Gluten Flour
High gluten flour is a type of flour which contains a combination of equal parts of gluten and flour. This is a commercially made product which does not require you to add vital wheat gluten to the recipe. Double the amount of vital wheat gluten required in the recipe determine the amount of gluten flour to use as a substitute.
Guar Gum
Guar gum can be found in health food stores and on the Internet. Use one tsp. of guar gum for each cup of gluten free flour used in a recipe to replace each cup of wheat flour and vital wheat gluten in bread and baked goods.
Pre-gel Starch
Pre-gel starch acts like vital wheat gluten in baked goods recipes by preventing excess crumbling of the food. Add one tsp. to the recipe for every cup of gluten free flour used. Replace vital wheat gluten and wheat flour when adapting recipes into gluten-free versions. For example, replace each cup of wheat flour with a mixture of 1/4 cup soy flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 1/2 cup rice flour and 1 tsp. pre-gel starch. You can omit the added vital wheat gluten in the recipe as the pre-gel starch replaced it.