How to Add Gluten to All-Purpose Flour

Homemade bread often defies success, emerging from the oven as a dense loaf that presents a challenge to tooth and jaw. Though the beginning baker might suspect a problem with yeast, the real culprit might be a lack of proteins in the flour. These proteins form gluten strands, the strands, in turn, providing a sort of trellis for the dough, giving it lightness and structure. When all-purpose flour lacks enough proteins to create a proper loaf, bakers can add gluten, which, like all-purpose flour, is a wheat product.