Cereal Chem 65:471-473   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Measurement of the Water Uptake Rate of Crackers.

C. S. Gaines and P. L. Finney. Copyright 1988 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Four types of commercial crackers baked by six commercial producers from 12 flours were evaluated by a new, inexpensive method for assessing the internal structure of those products, i.e., water uptake. Data from the sorption method were compared to data from an instrument designed to evaluate the hardness of commercial crackers, the Biscuit Texture Meter (BTM). The BTM had a lower coefficient of variation; however, rate curves from the water uptake method could predict the BTM values with an R2 of 0.91. Equipment for the water uptake method costs considerably less than the BTM.