Cereal Chem 43:486 - 494.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Effects of Sulfhydryl-Blocking Agents and Flour Improvers on Gassing Power, Yeast Activity, and Some Flour Enzyme Systems.

C. C. Tsen. Copyright 1966 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The study was conducted to evaluate inhibitory effects of sulfhydryl (-SH)-blocking agents and flour improvers on the gas production (gassing power) of yeast with flour-water dough. The three -SH-blocking agents, N-ethylmaleimide, iodoacetic acid, and p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, all could inhibit the gas production markedly at the addition levels of 135, 405, and 1,215 p.p.m. (on flour basis). However, of the common flour improvers including bromate, iodate, acetone peroxides, ascorbic acid, and azodicarbonamide, tested at the levels of 5 to 1,215 p.p.m., only iodate clearly exhibited an inhibitory effect on the gas production. The gas production was reduced to a greater extent by iodate with glucose and ammonium phosphate than with dough, indicating that iodate could inhibit yeast activity directly and that flour -SH and other oxidizable components could dilute this inhibition. In addition, flour enzyme systems involving diastatic and proteolytic activities were also inhibited by iodate; the inhibition of these enzymes could also be directly and indirectly responsible for the decrease in gas production.