Cereal Chem 51:427 - 433.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Dried Japanese Noodles. II. Effect of Amylase, Protease, Salts, and pH on Noodle Doughs.

M. M. Bean, C. C. Nimmo, J. G. Fullington, P. M. Keagy, and D. K. Mecham. Copyright 1974 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Malted wheat flour extracts, treated to inactivate amylase or protease, were added to Japanese-type noodle doughs. Both alpha-amylase- and protease-active fractions produced sticky and too-extensible doughs. Heat-stable water-solubles from malted wheat flour also contributed to dough softening. However, one wheat alpha-amylase fraction isolated from malted wheat flour did not modify raw noodle doughs, in contrast to its activity on gelatinized and soluble starch. Of several improving agents, the more effective suppressed protease activity and/or strengthened dough structure. Sodium chloride and trisodium phosphate, both in use in Japan in various noodle products, restored dough properties nearly to normal when sprout damage approximated the effects of adding 0.5% malted wheat flour (falling number 180). Disodium phsophate, permitted in macaroni products in the U.S., also improved noodle dough properties. However, amylograph hot-paste viscosities were increased relatively little by these salts at concentrations below 3%, and most of the increases were accounted for by their effects on pH. Sodium phytate likewise had a small effect. Their improving effects on noodle dough properties thus could not be attributed to inhibition of alpha-amylase. Conversely, the calcium chelating agent, disodium EDTA, was an effective amylase inhibitor but required high levels to modify noodle dough properties. Increased alpha-amylase activity is associated with sprouted and otherwise field-damaged wheats, but the principal deleterious effects on noodle dough properties may arise from changes in other components.