Non-linear rheological properties of soft wheat flour dough at different stages of farinograph mixing

Abstract

During mixing of wheat flour doughs, the distribution of the gluten network changes as a result of continuously applied large deformations. Especially gliadin, changes its distribution in the whole network during mixing. It is possible to fundamentally explain the role of molecular changes in more detail using large amplitude oscillatory measurements (LAOS) in the non-linear region. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the effect of mixing on the non-linear fundamental rheological behavior of soft wheat flour dough using LAOS. Dough samples were obtained at 4 different phases of the Farinograph mixing and LAOS tests were done on each of them. LAOS tets give in depth intracycle understanding of rheology. All samples showed strain stiffening S and shear thinning T behavior at large strains previously not known in the cereal rheology community. Increasing mixing time (phase 1 to phase 4) and decreasing frequency resulted in retardation in the break of strain stiffening as strain increases. The strain stiffening behavior started to decrease for the dough samples at the 3rd and the 4th phases of mixing. LAOS data enabled us to describe the non-linear rheological changes occurring both in the viscous part largely attributed to the starch matrix and elastic part largely attributed to the gluten network components of the soft wheat flour dough under large deformations.