Determination of the Bread-Making Quality of Flours Using an Automatic Bread Machine

Abstract

In this study, the possibility of bread machine utilization as a quality control tool in the baking industry was investigated. Three different flour samples (F-1, F-2, and F-3) having different protein contents were obtained and then 12% wheat starch and 2% vital gluten were added to these flours to adjust protein ratios. The physicochemical and rheological properties of these flour combinations were analyzed. Specific volume, crumb grain attributes, crust and crumb color, and bread firmness in terms of compressibility (g) were measured. Specific volumes changed between 5.22 and 6.69 mL g(-1) and between 4.87 and 6.29 mL g(-1) for hearth and machine bread, respectively. Crumb firmness values of hearth bread made from F-1, F-2 and F-3 flours were 174.2, 259.4, and 180.3 g, whereas the mean firmness values of machine breads made from those flours were 91.2, 157.58, and 154.98 g, respectively. The F-2 flour had the poorest performance in both baking methods with regard to the evaluated features. At the same time, the bread machine performances were different, but displayed similar responses with changing flour quality. The effects of protein content were not observed in hearth bread. However, these changes affected specific volume and crumb features in bread machine baking. The study showed that bread machines with an optimized formula could be successfully employed for determining flour quality in bread making.