Cereal Chem 62:454-458   |  VIEW ARTICLE
Experimental Micromilling: Reduction of Tempering Time of Wheat from 18-24 Hours to 30 Minutes.

K. F. Finney and L. C. Bolte. Copyright 1985 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A micromilling method is described whereby a wheat was given a 2% pretemper for 15 min, a prebreak and a temper to the desired moisture level for 15 min, a second prebreak, and then micromilled; total time was about 40 min. The straight-grade flour had yield, protein, and ash values comparable to those of flour milled from wheat tempered for 18-24 hr. The 2% pretemper toughened the bran so that when the wheat was given the first prebreak through the Tag-Heppenstall rolls, the bran remained relatively intact and held together the shattered and fissured endosperm. Consequently, the endosperm acted like a sponge and quickly and relatively uniformly absorbed the temper water in about 15 min. A procedure is described for conditioning and micromilling the wheat, determining wheat and flour moisture and protein contents by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, estimating flour absorption, and running one or two mixograms, all in 50-60 min.