Gluten Gelatinization - Can it retain bread texture ?

"Baking is part science, part stoneground milling and part river-running romance. But it's not the romance that will keep your baking consistently good, it's the science" - Paul Allam in the cookbook, Bourke Street Bakery by Paul Allam and David McGuinness

I enjoy living in this world of trials and errors and love seeking for answers for my questions. The science of baking is so fascinating. The chemistry of flour itself has so much to learn. This is what I gathered from my reading so far...

Gluten is a protein complex formed when wheat flour is mixed with water. The gluten development gives wheat dough an elastic structure that allows the retention of gas bubbles during yeast fermentation. When a bread dough is baked, the yeast dies resulting the air pockets giving the bread a soft and spongy texture. The chemistry of gluten changes in the presence of heat. Gluten toughen when it is heated, thus giving a variety of texture when treated at higher temperature.

Strangely, the chemistry of gluten is also well-understood by my grandmother and mum. We use boiling water in our dumpling dough for a tougher chewy texture. This principle also applies to dough gelatinisation method of making soft Asian bread. Likewise, the cooking of gluten in water roux method is thought to be the method to make soft fluffy bread without the addition of bread improver. However, this opinion has also raised lots of "debate" amongst lots of my fellow food bloggers.

My question is "Can gluten gelatinisation or cooking of gluten retain the texture of bread without the use of any bread improver?

At first, I tried to use the water roux method to cook 10% of flour in an optimized hot cross bun recipe from my Breville breadmaker instructional manual with half amount of water and proceed to make the buns with the cooked dough and the rest of the instructions without adding any bread improver. The buns were soft and tasty when they were freshly baked but were not as good on the next day indicating that the water roux method has shown no effect in improving bread texture.

Now, I'm using a great bread recipe by Lena from Frozen Wing to proceed on my next bread investigation. This original recipe used gelatinisation method and these buns are indeed very soft and fluffy when they were freshly baked but they did not retain their original fluffiness on the next day.

Nothing kills my curiosity at this stage...My next and final baking investigation is to use this similar recipe without gelatinisation method to see any differences with this bake. At the same time, I would like to see if the addition of bread improver makes any difference in texture on the next day.

Stay tune for my next post for the result of my final bread baking investigation.

Here's the recipe for the basic sweet bread dough (gelatinisation method) 
from Lena, Frozen wings

Ingredients A
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

Ingredients B
300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g instant yeast

175g cold water
60g cold eggs
60g butter

Method:
1.Add the boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form dough. Cover and set aside to cool and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours.
2.Mix B until well blended. Add in the cold water and eggs and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead until well blended
3.Add in butter till form elastic dough.
4. Let it proof for 40 mins
5.Divide the dough into 60g each and mould it round. Let it rest for 10 mins and flatten it.
6. Place onto a greased pan and proof for 45 mins. Bake at 190°C for 12-15 mins.

Happy Baking.