Cereal Chem 57:88 - 91.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Ascorbic Acid as an Oxidant in Wheat Flour Dough. II. Rheological Effects.

M. Elkassabany and R. C. Hoseney. Copyright 1980 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Rheological changes were measured by studying the spread of dough. L-Ascorbic acid (AA) has both an immediate and time-dependent rheological effect on dough and requires only a low concentration (15 ppm) to produce those effects. AA and yeast have a greater rheological effect than is obtained with a combination of AA and bromate or with AA alone. The oxidizing effect of yeast cannot be replaced by the use of AA. D- Isoascorbic acid was converted to dehydro-D-isoascorbic acid during mixing. Dehydro-D-isoascorbic acid did not have an oxidizing effect on dough, however, and did not overcome the reducing effect of thiol compounds such as was obtained with dehydro-L-ascorbic acid (DHAA). This result suggests that the oxidation effect of DHAA is an enzyme-mediated reaction. We hypothesized that the enzyme oxidizes a rheologically deleterious material in the water-soluble fraction of flour. We also hypothesized that DHAA or AA stops a time-dependent reaction in dough, which, without the oxidant present, causes dough to flow excessively. The time-dependent reaction is thought to be enzymatic.