Thanks Rhiannon.

The Japanese home method of making gluten is to kneed the wheat dough (that's had a pinch of salt added to it) for ten minutes or so. You then need a large glass bowl (so you can see what you're doing) filled with water. Hold the dough ball and very, very gently squeeze it for another ten or fifteen minutes. The starch gradually falls away and you're left with the gluten. Not sure what you do after that 'cause I was after the starch not the gluten and the gluten, in various forms, can be bought in the shops anyway. Can tell you though that if you let the gluten dry out completely (and that takes days) it's as hard as iron and practically indestructible! Great experiment for kids young and old.

The tangents we go off at and the things we talk here about are a constant source of delight :-)