Cereal Chem 61:1 - 4.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Microwave Utilization in the Rapid Determination of Flour Moisture.

A. B. Davis and C. S. Lai. Copyright 1984 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A microwave-oven moisture-determination system was compared with a standard air-oven method for determination of moisture in hard, soft, and whole wheat flours. Sample size, drying time, and microwave energy level were optimized for each flour to produce the greatest moisture removal possible without charring of the sample. After optimization, the microwave method was compared with a standard air-oven method for each type of flour over a normal range of moistures. Results indicate that the mircowave system gives a slightly, but consistently lower, value for moisture when compared to the air-oven method. The degree of difference is on the order of 0.5%, and is sufficiently consistent to allow a tabular correction to agree with air-oven values.Thus, it appears that the microwave system may provide a rapid method for moisture determination in flour.