TheEffectsofGluteninFocacciaBread

SkylarSmithandAlessandroPetruzzella

Abstract:

ThistopicwasinvestigatedbecauseofapassionateItalianlabpartnerwhoisvery
familiarwithfocacciabread,andeagertolearnabouttherolesofdifferenttypesofflourina
typicalfocacciarecipe.The3flourswetestedduringthisexperimentwereallpurposeflour,
breadflour,aflourwithahighconcentrationofgluten,andtheItalian00flour(tipo00),avery
fineflourwithalowerconcentrationofglutenknowntomakethebestfocacciabread.The
questionsweresearchedwashowstretchyorchewythedough/breadwas,howsoftorhardit
was,andhowmoistitwas.Todothisexperiment,weusedatypicalonlinefocacciabread
recipeandswappedtheflouroutwithour3flours.Inourresults,wefoundthattheflourwiththe
mostgluten,breadflour,madethestretchiestdough,themostdensebread,andthemostmoist
bread.The00flourmadethesoftestbread,andtheallpurposeflourmadetheleast
stretchy/chewybreadandtheleastmoistbread.Eventhoughthenumbersprovedour
predictionsthroughresearch,theresultswererelativelycloseinallnumberssoitwasdifficultto
makeconfidentinterpretationsandconclusions.

Introduction:

Focacciawasatraditionaldishinsouthern
Italymanycenturiesago.Thereareseveral
kindsoffocacciaeachonecharacterizinga
town.Apopulartypeofthisbreadiscalled
"FocacciaBarese"sinceit'stypicalinthecity
ofBarilocatedintheheeloftheItalianboot.

Thetraditionprovidesanartisanproduction,
usuallyolderwomenspendalotoftheirtime
makingtraditionaldisheslikefocaccia.This
recipeisnotonlyatypeofquickfoodtoget
andtoeatanytime,butalsoawaytolivenup
theculture.

Economically,focacciabecamethemainfood
consumedinthestreetsofItalyit'seasyto
get,cheap,fast,anddelicious.

It'stheperfectmealtoeatanytimeoftheday.
Sincethefirstageofthecity,itwasreferred
toas"thesymbolofthetown".

Focacciaisatypeofflat,ovenbakedbread
typicallytoppedwitholiveoil,spicesand
otheringredients.Essentially,focacciabread
wasanearlyprototypeofamodernday
pizza.Earlyversionsofthisbreadwere
cookedonthehearthofahotfire,oronahot
tile.Thebakerwouldusuallypokeholes

inthedoughaswell,torelievethebubbling
onthesurfaceofthebreadwhenitisbeing
baked.

Wedecidedtomakethisrecipesowecan
showthedifferencebetweenItalianand
Americanfood.InItaly,the00flour("tipo00")
istypicallyusedbecauseitisaveryfineflour
whichmakeslighterandthinnerbreads.In
ourresearch,wesawthattheAmericans
tendtousethickerandlessrefinedflours,like
breadflourorallpurposeflourforpizzasand
focaccia.Researchalsoshowsthatbread
flourtendstomakebreadmorechewy.This
ismostlyduetothehighamountsofprotein,
orgluten.Themoregluten,themoresticky
andchewythebreadwillbe.Wealsoexpect
thatthemorechewythefocacciabread,the
moredenseitwillbe.Duringthisproject,we
wanttoshowwhichfloursareusedforthe
bestpurposes.

Methods:

Inourexperiment,weinvestigatedwhat
makesthesoftest/hardestfocacciabread,
whatmakesthemoistestfocacciabreadand
whatmakesthechewiestfocacciabread.In
ourexperiment,wetested3differenttypesof
flour:allpurposeflour,00flourandbread
flour.Additionally,thiswasacontrolled
experimentinwhichweusedthesamerecipe
andsameamountsofingredientsforeach
focacciabreadwemade.Therefore,the
dependentvariableintheexperimentwas
onlytheflour.Theindependentvariables
weretheremainingingredientsinthe
focacciabreadrecipe:salt,sugar,yeast,oil,
water,andotherseasonings.

Thereasonsforexperimentingwithdifferent
typesofflourinfocacciabreadissowecan
observehowstretchyitis,howsoftitis,and
howmoistitis.Wewillbemeasuringthese
qualitiesbyconductingatestthatwillshow
howmuchthedoughwillstretch,calculating
thedensityofthebread,andtestingthe
moistureofthefinalproductwithamoisture
sensor.

Afterwemadethedoughswiththe3different
typesofflour,westartedtestinghowstretchy
theywere.Tomeasurethis,wesetatape
measureonthesurfaceofthetable,andwe
placedthedoughatthebeginningofit.Then,
wepulledandstretchedthedoughjustbefore
itsbreakingpoint.Wedidthisforallflours:
allpurposeflour,breadflour,and00flour.
Weexpectedthestretchinesstocorrespond
withthechewinessofthefinalfocacciabread
product.Itwasdifficulttotesthowstretchy
thefinalfocacciabreadproductwasbecause
itdidntstretchverymuchandonsomeofthe
edges,thebreadwouldbreakquickly
becauseofthecrispinessfrombaking.
Therefore,totestourtheory,wecreateda
qualitativeGoogleFormforourclassandfor
theexhibition.Thisway,weareabletoseeif
thechewinessofthefinalbreadproduct
correspondstothedough.

Afterwecalculatedthe
chewiness/stretchinessofthefocaccia,we
measuredthedensityofthebread.
Calculatingthedensitywasmuchmore
difficultthantestinghowchewy/stretchythe
breadwas.Weknowthatthedensityofan
objectisequaltoitsmassdividedbyits
volume.Findingthemassofanobjectis
simple,allweneedisascalethatcangiveus
anappropriatenumberofunitsforthe
Results:

givenobject.Apieceoffocacciabreadwas
verylight,soweneededascalethat
measuredingrams.Computingthevolumeof
apieceofbreadisabitmoretricky.Itis
difficultbecauseitshardtobeprecisewith
measuringapieceoffoodthatissosmall.In
orderforustoobtainanaccuratenumberfor
ourvolumeofbreadweneededtousea
methodcalleddisplacement.Displacementis
amethodusedtocomputethevolumeofan
objectasaccurateaspossible.Typically,the
displacementmethodisusedwithafluid
suchaswater.Theobjectisthenplacedin
thewater,andthechangeinvolumeofwater
isrecorded.Thedifferenceoftheriseof
wateristhevolumeoftheobject.

However,insteadofusingaliquidtomeasure
thevolumeforourpieceofbread,weused
sand.Wedidntwanttousealiquidwhen
calculatingthevolumebecausewethought
thatthebreadwouldabsorbtheliquid,which
wouldleadtoalessaccuratenumberforthe
objectsvolume.Knowingthis,wethought
sandwouldbeagreatwaytomeasurethis
volumebecauseitwillsurroundtheobjectbut
theobjectwillnotabsorbthesand.Thetype
oftoolweusedtomeasurethiswasaflask
thatmeasureinincrementsof2mLwhich
wasthemostaccuratetoolwehad
possessionof.

Finally,wemeasuredthemoistureofour3
breads.Thiswasasimpletasktodo.Allwe
neededtodowasobtainamoisturesensor,
makesuretozeroitbeforeinsertingitintothe
breads,andtotestdifferentpiecesofthe
breads.Afterwecollectedallofour
measurements,wewereabletomaketables
andgraphs,andfurtherdiscussandexplain
ourresults.

Labspreadsheets,tables,measurements,
resultsandfiguresareshownonthelast
pagebelow.

Afterhavingcompletedapersonal
experimentonfocacciabread,creating
multiplespreadsheets,andcalculating
results,wecannowanalyze,compare,and
makeconclusionsbasedoffofthethree
typesoffloursthatweretestedinthe
experiment.

Inourexperiment,wewantedtoseewhichof
thethreefloursprovidedthesoftestfocaccia
bread,thechewiestbread,andthemost
moistbread.Fromobservingandanalyzing
Table1inthefromthequantitativeresults
spreadsheet,Icanconcludethatthe
stretchiestdoughwastheonewithbread
flour,thesoftestbreadwastheonewith00
flourandthemoistestbreadwastheonewith
thebreadflour.

InTable2ofthequantitativeresults
spreadsheet,thebreadflourstretchedan
averageof43inches.Thiswasahigher
averagethentheallpurposeflourstretching
anaverageof26inches,andthe00flour
stretchingandaverageof40.6before
breakingpoint.Thesoftestbreadwasmade
fromthe00flour,averagingatadensityof
.378gramspercentimetercubed.Thebread
flourmadethehardestbreadatanaverage
densityof.611gramspercentimetercubed,
andtheallpurposeflourstayedinbetween
thetwootherflouratanaverageof.447
gramspercentimetercubed.Finally,from
analyzingTable2ofthequantitativeresults
spreadsheet,thebreadflouralsomadethe
mostmoistfocacciabread.Anaverageof

22.43%ofthebreadwasmoisture.However,
the00flouralsohadasimilaramountof
moistureinthebread,averagingat20.73%,
andtheallpurposeflouraveragingat17.9%
moisture.

Forallinitialmeasurementsandcalculations,
therewaslittlevarianceinthenumberswe
collected.Therangeofstretchinessbetween
allthreetrialsoftheallpurposeflourwas4,
2forthebreadflour,and1forthe00flour.
Therangeofdensityforallthreetypesof
flourwas.053gramspercentimetercubed
fortheallpurposeflour,.053gramsper
centimetercubedforthebreadflour,and.009
gramspercentimetercubedforthe00flour.
Lastly,therangeofmoisturepercentage
betweentheflourwas1.9%forthe
allpurposeflour,1.0%forthebreadflour,
and4.5%forthe00flour.Asyoucansee
fromthesevariancecalculations,theranges
forallthreeflourinallthreetestswere
relativelylow,leadingtomoreaccurate
numberstoworkwithandanalyze.

Thequalitativedatawecollectedfromseveral
differentpeoplewhocompletingoursurvey
wassignificantlymorescatteredwith
numbersthatweremoredifficultto
comprehend.Inthesurveylinkunder
qualitativedata,thenumbersforalmostevery
bargraphwerefairlyrandom.Agreat
exampleofthisisinFigure1(below)onthe
question,HowsoftwasBreadB?Fromthis
bargraph,4peoplethoughtthatBreadB
hadasoftnesslevelof1onthescalefrom
110(1meaningstaleinthissituation),and4
otherpeoplethoughtthatBreadBhada
softnesslevelof9onthesamescale!This
showshowinconsistentandirrelevant

ourqualitativedatawasforthisexperiment,
unfortunately.

Discussion:

Overall,thequantitativedatawasmuchmore
usefulandhelpfulinthisexperimentrather
thanthequalitativedatausingthegoogle
survey.Asstatedabove,wecanseethatthe
breadflourmadeboththe
stretchiest/chewiestdough/breadandthe
mostmoistbread,andthe00flourmadethe
softestbread.

Wepredicted,fromourresearch,thatthe
flourswiththehighestamountsofgluten
wouldleadtothestretchiest/chewiestbreads
andviceversa.Wealsopredictedthatthe00
flourwouldcreateathinnerandlighterbread.
Ourpredictionswerecorrectinthefactthat
thebreadflour,theflourwiththemostgluten,
createdthechewiestandstretchiest
dough/breadalongwiththemostdense
focacciabread.Also,the00flourcreatedthe
softest,orleastdensepieceofbread.So,our
predictionwasnearlyonpoint,alldepending
onwhatonewouldclassifyaslightand
thin.

Withthequantitativedata,wearefairly
confidentwithourresults.Wecompleted3
trialsforeverytestweconductedwithour
focacciabread/dough.Whenwemeasured
thedensityofourthreedifferentbreads,we
thoroughlyandcarefullyzeroedthescale
eachtimetogetapreciseweightnumberin
gramsofthebreadalongwithmeasuringthe
changeindisplacementofeachofthe
breads.Wealsozeroedthemoisturesensor
whenmeasuringthepercentageofmoisture
ineachofourbreadsaswell.Meticulously
knowingthatwedidthis,therewereno

systematicerrorsinourexperiment.
However,therearealwaysotherwaysto
makecalculationsandmeasurementsmore
accurate:moretrials,moreaccurate
measuringtools,etc.Forwhatwehad
available,wemadethemostaccurate
measurementswiththetoolswehad.The
onlytestthatwasnotthemostaccuratewas
thestretchtestofthedoughswemade.Even
thoughwedid3trialsforthestretchteston3
differentdoughs(allpurpose,bread,and00)
itseemedlikewecouldhavestretchedeach
ofthedoughsalittlefurtherbykneadingitfor
alongeramountoftime,orsettingupa
separatetesttomeasurethe
stretchiness/chewinessofthedoughafterit
bakedintheoven.

Wearenot,however,satisfiedwithour
quantitativedata.Thesurveythatwemade
didnotseemtohelpgathermoreinformation
tosupportabetterconclusion.Thiscouldbe
classifiedasarandomerror,becauseofall
therandomdatapointsandgraphsmade
frompeoplesopinions.Onewaywhythis
datacouldhavebeensoscatteredis
becauseofpeople'stastesorperspectives.
Forexample,ifonepersonthoughtthatthe
BreadA(allpurposeflour)wasata
chewinesslevelofa5andthesameperson
thoughtthattheBreadB(breadflour)hada
chewinesslevelofa9,thiswouldhave
shownthatBreadBwaschewierthan
BreadAwhichwouldhavebeenaccurate
accordingtoourquantitativedata.Itwould
havebeenbetterifthesurveythatwe
conductedaskedeachpersonwhichofthe
threebreadswasthechewiest,moistest,and
softest.Doingthiswouldhavesupportedour
quantitative,thereforeleadingtoastronger
conclusion.Additionally,mylab

partnerandIboththoughtpersonallythatthe
BreadB(breadflour)wasthechewiestand
hardest,andthe00flourwasthesoftestand
easiesttochew,whichwouldhavesupported
ourotherdata,andpredictions.But,myidea
ofachewinesslevelof5couldhavebeen
anotherpersons8,or3,oranyotherrandom
numberonthegivenscale.Eventhough,at
firstitseemedlikehavinganumberscale
wouldbemoreaccurateandwouldhave
givenusamoreaccuratesetofnumbersto
gooffof,itdidnt.Sometimes,themore
simpletestsarethebettertests.Thiswasa
greatexperimenttolearnfromtofurther
enhancepersonalexperimentsofmineinthe
future.

Conclusion:

Throughoutourresearch,results,andthe
processofcooking,wewereabletodiscover
theimportanceofflour.Weuseflouralmost
everydayformanydifferentsrecipeswithout
knowingthesignificanceofit.Theideato
learnmoreaboutthisquestionusinga
scientificexperiment,arosefromadiscussion
betweendifferentculinarycultures.Asstated
before,intheAmericanculture,manypeople
useglutenheavyfloursuchabreadflourto
makethebreadchewierandthicker,unlike
europeancountrieswheretheycarefully
choosetheirflouraccordingdifferenttypesof
bread.Duringourexperiment,welearnedthe
importanceofthegluten,notonlyduringthe
experimentbutalsoduringpreparationand
cooking.Wepersonallyfoundthe00flour
moreappropriatetothistypeofrecipe.The
quantitativedatashowshowthistypeofflour
makesthebreadsofterandwefounditeasier
andmoresuitableforbaking,sincethedough
spreadsquicklyonthepanand

reactsbetterwhenbakingintheover.We
canconcludefromourquantitativeresults
thatthebreadswithethemostamountof
gluten(breadflour)weremorestretchyand
morethick.Andthebreadswiththeleast
amountofgluten(00flour)weremorefine,
andsoft.Thisstudyshowstheimportanceof
theflourisinbreadrecipes.Eventhoughthis
experimentfocusedonthestudyoffloursina
focacciabreadrecipe,theoverallmessageis
tohaveconsumershavemoreconsideration
totheirchoicesofflourwhenbaking.We
didntfindbigdifferencesbetweenthethree
flours,butinasocialsituationwherewe
addressaculinarydilemma,itsimportantto
takeintoconsideration.Ifthisexperiment
weretobeextended,thenextstepwouldbe
toresearchanotherkeyingredientinfocaccia
breadsuchastheyeast,asignificant
ingredientinthebreadmakingprocess.

QuantitativeData:

Table1:

Table2:

QualitativeData:

Figure1: