Cereal Chem 46:103 - 116.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Starch Damage and Alpha-Amylase as Bases for Mathematical Models Relating to Flour Water- Absorption.

E. A. Farrand. Copyright 1969 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The relative amounts of water absorbed by the main components of flour are postulated as major factors contributing to the rheological properties of dough and to flour-quality attributes in terms of baking characteristics. Dough formation is considered as a problem of hydrating protein to form gluten, disaggregation of flour particles, and spreading the gluten over the starch to form a continuous matrix. Damaged starch is introduced in terms of arbitrarily measured absorption characteristics and consequent changes in surface area to be covered by the gluten. A relation is derived, expressing the optimum level of starch damage as a function of protein content. Absorption is finally expressed in terms of protein, moisture, and starch damage, the calibrating constants being obtained from a statistical evaluation of the Brabender farinograph absorption for reference flours at optimum starch damage. The mathematical model estimates flour water-absorption with precision similar to that of routine Brabender farinograph measurements, but has the advantage of giving additional information concerning the nature of the absorption. An ancillary equation is also described relating optimum levels of alpha-amylase to the level of starch damage, to ensure doughs with adequate gassing power and minimum rheological instability.