6. Starches Gelatinize.

Starch is often the forgotten structure builder in flour, probably because gluten plays such an important and dominant role in raw bread dough. Yet once bread is baked, its structure is built as much on starch, or more, than it is on gluten.

Structure from gelatinized starch is arguably softer and more tender than the structure from egg and gluten proteins. Think of the texture of freshly baked bread. Much of the soft crumb of freshly baked bread is from gelatinized starch. But as with protein structure, too much starch produces toughness and dryness.