Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Wooster, Ohio » Corn, Soybean and Wheat Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #261544

Title: Development of a benchtop baking method for chemically leavened crackers. II. Validation of the method

Author
item Kweon, Meera
item SLADE, LOUISE - Food Polymer Science Consultancy
item LEVINE, HARRY - Food Polymer Science Consultancy

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2010
Publication Date: 1/1/2011
Citation: Kweon, M., Slade, L., Levine, H. 2011. Development of a benchtop baking method for chemically leavened crackers. II. Validation of the method. Cereal Chemistry. 88(1):25-30.

Interpretive Summary: By the use of a diagnostic cracker formula and procedure, cracker dough rheology was analyzed to evaluate the extent of gluten development in a flour during dough mixing and machining, and the effects of added enzymes on cracker-baking performance were explored to assess the impact of damaged starch and pentosans in flour. Validation of the cracker-baking method for predicting gluten functionality and performance was carried out using various flours. Gluten development during dough machining showed a significant correlation with cracker-baking performance; dough rheological properties, for dough in the direction of sheeting, were positively correlated with the ratio of baked cracker height to dough weight, but negatively correlated with the ratio of baked cracker width to length. Xylanase and a-amylase showed the improving effects of added enzymes on cracker-baking performance, resulting directly from decreased dough crumbliness and manifested as increased cracker height. A flour’s gluten performance ratio of SRC LA/(SC+Suc) was found to be a better predictor of resulting baked cracker geometry than was that flour’s gluten functionality value of LA SRC alone.

Technical Abstract: A benchtop baking method has been developed to predict the contribution of gluten functionality to overall flour performance for chemically leavened crackers. Using a diagnostic formula and procedure, dough rheology was analyzed to evaluate the extent of gluten development during mixing and machining. The effects of enzymes on cracker-baking performance were explored to assess the impact of damaged starch and pentosans (arabinoxylans). Validation of the method for predicting gluten functionality and performance was carried out using various flours. Cracker dough rheology, measured in the direction of sheeting, showed a positive correlation with the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but a negative correlation with the ratio of cracker width to length. Use of alpha-amylase and xylanase demonstrated the improving effects of enzymes on a flour’s cracker-baking performance, resulting from decreased dough crumbliness and increased cracker height. A flour’s gluten performance ratio of lactic acid solvent retention capacity (LA SRC)/(sodium carbonate (SC) SRC + sucrose (Suc) SRC) (SRC LA/(SC+Suc)) was found to be a better predictor of cracker geometry than was a flour’s gluten functionality value of LA SRC alone. Flours with a gluten performance ratio of < 0.52 produced unacceptable, excessive blistering during cracker baking.