ABSTRACT
The relaxation properties of flour-water-salt doughs prepared from four different flour types (weak, medium, strong, and extra strong) at different water absorption levels from 58 to 66% with protein contents of 10.0, 10.9, 13.2, and 11.8%, respectively, were studied by imposing varying strain amplitudes of 0.1–29%. Oscillatory tests in the linear viscoelastic region of the 66% absorption strong and weak dough cannot distinguish between the two types of dough. The inability to differentiate between dough types also applied to oscillatory tests on 58% absorption weak and 66% absorption strong doughs. However, the relaxation modulus of dough (extending over time) behaved quite distinctively at high strains, where dough samples experience large deformations. At strain amplitudes of ≤0.1% (i.e., in the linear viscoelastic region), different dough types behaved similarly. Likewise, the relaxation modulus completely relaxed at sufficiently long times. The magnitude of the modulus at intermediate- and high-strain amplitudes were in the order: extra strong > strong > medium > weak, indicating a higher level of elasticity in the extra strong dough samples despite its lower protein content. The relaxation times spectrum of the weak flour, extracted from the relaxation modulus data, reveals a broad relaxation process. The stress relaxation data are very reproducible at high-strain amplitudes (≈1–15% for up to 3 × 103 sec). This work demonstrated, for the first time, the consistency in oscillatory and relaxation measurements for dough. It also clearly showed that linear viscoelastic data, although important in the characterization of time scales in dough, are largely irrelevant in differentiating between dough types. Furthermore, without proper care, a false steady-state behavior can be obtained with standard viscometric measurements due to slippage at the dough-plate interface.
