Cereal Chem 48:247 - 254.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Effects of Chlorine on Flour Proteins, Dough Properties, and Cake Quality.

C. C. Tsen, K. Kulp, and C. J. Daly. Copyright 1971 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Chlorine was applied to cake flour at levels of from 0 to 16 oz. per cwt. The treatment reduced the pH, bleached the flour pigments over the entire range, and improved the cake-baking properties of flour up to 4.0 oz. per cwt. Above this level the effect on pH and pigments was sharply reduced and the volume and quality of cakes deteriorated rapidly. Farinograms indicated that the stability of doughs was first increased by chlorine treatment of flour (up to 2.0 oz. per cwt.), but then was rapidly reduced by higher treatment levels. Each increment of chlorine produced an increase in the water absorption of farinograph doughs. The flour proteins were progressively cleaved by each increment of chlorine as evidenced by the increasing extractability of proteins in water and acetic acid. This change was attributed to the dispersing, hydrolytic, and oxidative actions of chlorine. The oxidative effect of chlorine was further reflected in the change of SH content and in the oxidative degradation of aromatic amino acids. Chlorination of tyrosine was also detected. The significance of these reactions for the quality of cake flours is discussed.