Gluten: What is it, How Does it Work and Why Does it Matter?

Gluten is fascinating. It’s the magical protein that gives bread its soft, chewy texture, makes pizza dough stretchy, and helps pastries rise beautifully in the oven. But gluten has also become somewhat misunderstood—often blamed for digestive discomfort, yet not always fully understood as an ingredient. At its core, gluten is simply a protein found naturally in grains like wheat, spelt, barley, and rye. Yet not all gluten is created equal, and many factors—like grain variety, seasonal variability, farming practices, milling methods, and baking processes—can significantly impact how gluten behaves in your kitchen, and ultimately, how it feels when you eat it. In this post, we’ll explore gluten from an ingredient perspective: what it really is, how it works in food, why reactions vary from person to person, and practical ways you can better understand and work with gluten-containing grains.

When mixed with water and kneaded, these proteins form a stretchy, elastic network that traps gas produced by yeast or sourdough fermentation. That network is what gives bread its fluffy crumb, pasta its firm bite, and pastries their lift and flakiness.

Understanding these underlying protein differences also helps explain why some grains work better in bread making than others—and why some are better tolerated than others, depending on your body.

One important but often overlooked factor in gluten performance and digestibility is seasonal variation in grain protein content. The amount of protein in wheat—and by extension, the strength and quality of gluten—can vary significantly from year to year depending on environmental conditions during the growing season.

• Rainfall and soil moisture content: Wheat that grows under drier conditions, especially during the grain-filling stage, tends to concentrate more protein. Conversely, wet seasons can produce plumper grains with lower protein percentages.
• Soil Fertility and Nitrogen Content: More available nitrogen during key stages of crop development generally boosts protein levels in grain. Organic and regenerative farming systems may have lower synthetic nitrogen inputs, which can yield grains with more moderate protein but better balance.
• Temperature Stress: Heat during flowering or ripening can impact how the plant partitions nutrients, sometimes increasing protein levels but altering quality or distribution across the grain.
  

Beyond weather, the mineral content of the soil—particularly sulphur—can influence not just how much protein wheat produces, but which types. Sulphur is essential for building certain amino acids, and wheat’s most immunogenic gluten proteins (like some types of gliadin) are especially rich in sulphur.

In sulphur-deficient soils, wheat tends to produce a higher proportion of these gliadin fractions relative to other proteins. A Western Australian study showed that sulphur fertiliser significantly reduced gliadin content by 20–30%, without changing total gluten. This suggests that wheat grown on depleted soils—common in parts of Australia and the U.S. due to reduced sulphur fertilisers and cleaner air—may contain more of the proteins linked to wheat sensitivity. By contrast, European wheat (from soils with naturally higher sulphur or longer-term fertiliser use) may have a different gluten profile.

This is still an emerging field of research, but it highlights an intriguing idea: even the same variety of wheat could behave—and feel—very differently, depending on the soil it grew in.

Higher protein doesn’t always mean better baking. While strong flours with 13–14% protein are great for chewy sourdoughs and crusty loaves, they can be overkill for cakes, biscuits, or even gentle rustic breads. Conversely, lower-protein wheat may struggle to form a reliable gluten network, especially in commercial baking contexts—but can be more digestible and better suited to traditional methods or sourdough baking.

This is one reason why some home bakers notice changes in how a familiar flour behaves from one season to the next—even if the variety and supplier remain the same.

Takeaway: Gluten isn’t a fixed quantity or quality. It’s shaped by genetics, yes—but also by nature. Understanding seasonal variability helps you work with the grain, rather than against it.

When people react to wheat, it’s often assumed gluten is the sole culprit. But there’s another group of proteins in the mix that’s increasingly under the spotlight: amylase-trypsin inhibitors, or ATIs.

ATIs are naturally occurring proteins found in wheat (especially modern high-yield varieties), barley, and rye. Unlike gluten, ATIs aren’t responsible for dough structure or elasticity—in fact, they don’t play any functional role in baking at all. Their job, in the plant world, is to defend the grain from pests by inhibiting digestive enzymes in insects.

But here’s where it gets interesting: in some people, ATIs appear to stimulate the innate immune system, particularly in the gut. This is different from the adaptive immune reaction triggered by gluten in coeliac disease. In non-coeliac individuals, ATIs may contribute to inflammation or discomfort, especially when consumed in large amounts or from heavily processed sources.

• Modern high-yield wheat tends to have higher concentrations of ATIs than older or heritage varieties.
• Highly processed wheat products (such as industrial bread, crackers, or extruded snacks) may contain concentrated wheat fractions, including added gluten and ATIs.
• Ancient grains like spelt, emmer and khorasan appear to contain fewer ATIs than modern bread wheat, though research is still emerging.

If you’re trying to create more digestible products—whether for your own baking or for customers—using low-input, traditionally grown grains and favouring longer fermentation processes (like sourdough) can help. Extended fermentation has been shown to break down not only gluten, but also ATIs and other potentially problematic proteins.

Takeaway: ATIs aren’t well known outside scientific circles, but they’re part of the bigger picture when it comes to how wheat affects different people. They don’t impact how dough performs—but they might influence how it feels in the body.

While oats and wheat have similar total protein content by weight, the proportion of gluten-like proteins is vastly different.

• Wheat: ~12–15% protein by weight

↳ 80–85% of that protein is gluten → ~10–13% gluten overall

• Oats: ~12–15% protein by weight

↳ 10–15% of that protein is avenin → ~1–2% avenin overall

This lower concentration of gluten-like proteins in oats helps explain why they’re typically more digestible—even for people who don’t do well with wheat.

That depends on why they’re avoiding it.

Coeliac disease: About 90–95% of people with coeliac disease can tolerate pure, uncontaminated oats. But a small subset may still react to avenin, so oats should only be introduced with guidance from a doctor or dietitian—and only if they’re certified gluten-free.

It is worth noting that all our oats are grown by producers that also grow glutinous products, so they are not suitable for people with coeliac disease.

Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity: Oats are generally well tolerated here, too. They don’t contain ATIs (those wheat-specific proteins that can trigger inflammation), and they’re naturally low in FODMAPs, making them a gentle grain for many.

You’ve probably heard someone say they can eat bread comfortably while holidaying overseas, yet struggle at home. It sounds strange, but there’s genuine science behind this observation. Beyond the points mentioned earlier about seasonal variation, there are also other key factors affecting how gluten behaves in baked goods—and how your body might react.

So, what are some of the variables that can affect someone's ability to digest a loaf of bread more easily.

Older varieties of grains often have gluten proteins that form weaker gluten networks. This can result in bread and baked goods with a softer crumb and more fragile structure, making them potentially easier for the digestive system to break down.

Modern wheats tend to be more complex on a chromosomal level. You may here terms like diploid (2), tetraploid (4) or hexaploid (6). These are reference to polyploidy, or the number of complete sets of chromosomes a plant carries. Most of the time, but not always, the fewer the chromosome sets, the more digestible the wheat. However, there are drawbacks to each.

Glyphosate is often used as a pre-harvest desiccant- sprayed on wheat shortly before harvest to dry out the crop evenly and speed up processing. This practice is banned or heavily restricted in many parts of Europe.

While glyphosate isn’t directly a gluten issue, emerging research suggests it may alter gut microbiota, potentially reducing populations of beneficial bacteria and increasing gut permeability (sometimes called “leaky gut”). This disruption could exacerbate wheat sensitivities in some individuals, especially when combined with other dietary stressors.

As mentioned earlier, sulphur (and nitrogen) levels in soil can influence the makeup of gluten proteins—particularly gliadins. Australian soils, being geologically older and more weathered, are often naturally low in sulphur compared to European soils. This deficit can be improved by building organic matter in the soil, a common practice in organic and regenerative farming systems. Conventional industrial cropping, however, often lacks these organic inputs, which means sulphur levels—and by extension, the gluten profile of the grain—can be harder to balance.

Ancient grain breads are often made with traditional methods, like long fermentation or true sourdough techniques. Slow fermentation naturally breaks down gluten and other potentially irritating compounds, such as FODMAPs, making bread gentler on sensitive stomachs.

In Australia, commercial wheat flour used in breadmaking is mandatorily fortified with synthetic folic acid, a public health measure aimed at preventing neural tube defects. While well-intentioned, not everyone can efficiently convert folic acid into its active form (folate), especially those with common genetic variants like MTHFR mutations. For some, this unmetabolised folic acid may build up or interfere with natural folate pathways. While research is ongoing, it raises questions about how fortified breads affect people differently—especially those sensitive to additives or with compromised methylation pathways.

While some countries in the EU require fortification of bread making flour, most do not. In Australia, certified organic flour gets an exemption from this regulation.

In short, it’s usually the farming, milling, and baking methods—not necessarily lower gluten content—that makes these grains feel gentler for many people.

Gluten is far more complex—and more interesting—than its reputation might suggest. As a natural part of many grains, it plays an essential role in the structure, texture, and performance of baked goods. But how we grow, process, and prepare those grains can dramatically change how gluten behaves in the kitchen—and how it’s experienced in the body.

While coeliac disease, wheat allergy, and gluten sensitivity are very real for some, the story isn’t always as simple as “gluten equals bad.” Factors like grain variety, farming inputs, milling methods, fermentation time, and the presence of other proteins like ATIs all influence how wheat-based products are digested and tolerated.

At Sovereign Foods, we’re passionate about ingredients that are grown with care, milled with integrity, and used in ways that respect tradition and flavour. Whether you’re baking with ancient grains like spelt, khorasan or emmer, experimenting with sourdough, or just curious about the difference between spelt and standard wheat, we believe a deeper understanding of gluten can help you choose the grains that work best for your kitchen—and your body.

Want to explore further? Browse our collection of Australian-grown flours, grains, and baking staples, or reach out if you’re not sure where to start. We’re always happy to help.