The difference in the physical and chemical properties of protein causes the difference in the water absorption speed of wheat flour. Taking the wheat flours with different water absorption speed as research objects, the crude protein content, gluten protein content, wet gluten content, gluten index, sedimentation value, gluten swelling index, amino acid content and the internal micro network structure of the dough were measured in this paper. Results showed that the water absorption speed of wheat flour increased from 0.17 g/s to 3.87 g/s when the crude protein content was reduced from 13.25% to 6.98%. Besides, when the gliadin content decreased from 4.02% to 1.53% and the glutenin content decreased from 5.28% to 2.77%, the quality of the gluten membrane decreased, making the dough easier to shape, and increasing the water absorption speed of wheat flour. Meanwhile, the water absorption speed increased significantly with the decrease of wet gluten content, and the gluten index had no significant effect on the water absorption speed. The sedimentation value decreased from 69.50 mL to 32.50 mL, and the gluten swelling index decreased from 5.24% to 3.33%, both of which were significantly negatively correlated with the water absorption speed (p<0.05). The amino acid content affected the molecular force of the protein. The cysteine content was reduced from 0.14% to 0.04%, resulting in a decrease in the formation of disulfide bonds, and thereby affecting the protein structure. When the internal micro network structure of the dough was tight, the greater the resistance of the flour to agglomespeed, the lower the water absorption speed.The results showed that there was a negative correlation between protein properties and water absorption speed of wheat flour.