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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #123872
Title: STALING OF BREAD AS AFFECTED BY WAXY WHEAT FLOUR BLENDS

Author
item BHATTACHARYA, MONISHA - CER SCI, NDSU, FARGO, ND
item ERAZO-CASTERJON, SOFIA - CER SCI, NDSU, FARGO, ND
item Doehlert, Douglas
item MCMULLEN, MICHAEL - PLNT SCI, NDSU, FARGO, ND

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/24/2001
Publication Date: 1/15/2002
Citation: Bhattacharya, M., Erazo-Casterjon, S., Doehlert, D.C., McMullen, M. 2002. Staling of bread as affected by waxy wheat flour blends. Cereal Chemistry. 79:178-182.

Interpretive Summary: In order to extend the shelf life of bread, bakers will frequently add emulsifiers or vegetable shortening to bread formulations to slow the staling process. However, these ingredients are expensive and may detract from the nutritional value of the bread. We have developed a type of wheat, which has altered starch composition, and is called waxy wheat. Although waxy wheat flour by itself makes a poor quality loaf of bread, we have found that bread made from a blend of 20% waxy wheat flour with normal bread flour just as soft and has as good a shelf life as bread made with 3% shortening. Our results suggest that blending waxy flour with bread flour in a bread formulation can make a low fat bread with excellent softness and improved shelf life.

Technical Abstract: Crumb softness and improved shelf life of bread is often achieved by incorporating shortening or dough conditioners in the formulation. We hypothesized that similar results could be achieved by blending bread wheat flour with waxy (low amylose) wheat flour. White pan bread was baked from 10%, 20%, and 30% waxy durum wheat flour blends and evaluated for loaf volume and crumb firmness over a period of 0, 3 and 5 days. The loaf volumes were not affected by the waxy blends However, as staling progressed over 3 to 5 days, the crumb of the control loaves became more firm than those loaves baked with waxy blend flours. A 20% waxy wheat flour blend was found to be optimal in retarding staling, while producing bread quality comparable with the control. It was further established that bread made with 20% waxy flour gave lower firmness values after 5 days of storage in comparison to bread made with 3% shortening. This indicated that 20% waxy wheat flour could substitute for use of shortening to achieve desirable crumb softness, and to retard staling upon storage, without a significant change in the loaf volume of the blend.