DisplayTitle

Rheological Properties of Wheat Flour Dough and the Relationship with Bread Volume. I. Creep-Recovery Measurements

¹University College Ghent, Faculty of Biosciences and Landscape Architecture, Department of Food Science and Technology, Voskenslaan 270, 9000 Ghent. ²Ghent University, Department of Food Quality and Food Safety, Laboratory of Food Technology and Engineering, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent. ³Corresponding author. Phone: +32 9 248 88 71. Fax: +32 9 242 42 79. E-mail: filip.vanbockstaele@hogent.be

The rheological properties of 17 pure European wheat cultivars were analyzed and evaluated in relation to the bread volume. Rheological testing included two empirical rheological methods, farinograph and alveograph, and more fundamental creep-recovery experiments at shear stresses of 100 and 250 Pa. Principal component analysis on the farinograph and alveograph results showed that a wide range of rheological properties was present among the wheat cultivars. Correlation analysis pointed out that creep-recovery parameters showed significant correlations with protein content, Zeleny sedimentation value, farinograph water absorption, alveograph extensibility, and bread volume. Among the rheological parameters, maximum recovery strain at a shear stress of 250 Pa showed the highest significant correlation with the bread volume (r = 0.790**). Variables were combined to predict the bread volume by multiple linear regression. A combination of protein content, farinograph water absorption, and alveograph P/L showed the best prediction (r² = 0.80). When taking into account the creep-recovery parameters, the best prediction of the bread volume (r² = 0.74) was obtained for a combination of the maximum recovery strain at a shear stress of 250 Pa with one other quality parameter (Zeleny sedimentation value, farinograph water absorption, or alveograph W).