Homemade Dough Enhancer

Dough enhancer is just what you need to make whole grain homemade bread light and wonderful, just like white bread, only better. You can buy dough enhancer, but it’s more frugal–and fun–to mix it yourself!

What goes into a dough enhancer? I use a combination of wheat gluten, lecithin, ascorbic acid crystals, pectin, gelatin, nonfat dry milk, and ginger. Wheat gluten improves the texture and rise of bread. Lecithin teams up with the gluten to make bread lighter. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) helps the yeast work better. Pectin adds moisture, as does the gelatin. The dry milk helps the dough relax (man, who needs uptight dough?), and the ginger is another yeast booster (you won’t taste it in the finished product). Most of these are also preservatives, so they help keep your bread fresh longer, and they are all natural.

How to make Homemade Dough Enhancer:

1 cup vital wheat gluten

2 tablespoons lecithin granules – can substitute an egg

1 teaspoon ascorbic acid crystals – can substitute apple cider vinegar (acetic acid)

2 tablespoons powdered pectin – can substitute apple pectin

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin – can substitute Bernard Jensen’s gelatin

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

(Double or triple if you want to store up more at one time.)



  

Mix together and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I used an old jelly jar. For 100% whole grain breads, use 3 tablespoons per loaf. You can even add a tablespoon per loaf in white bread recipes. Add to your recipe along with the flour.

Edited to add: I love dough enhancer so much I make it in triple batches and keep it in a quart-size jar now.

Happy whole grain bread baking!  --Thanks to Dr. Kyle Christensen