FLOUR ANALYSIS

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CONTENTS PAGE NO.

INTRODUCTION 3-4

SEDIMENTATION VALUE 5

GLUTEN CONTENT 6

FLOUR GRANULATION 7

PELSHENKE VALUE 8

IDENTIFICATION OF BLEACHED FLOUR 9

DISTATIC ACTIVITY 10-17

RHEOLOGICAL TESTS 18-30

2
 INTRODUCTION
Flour is estimated by
milling of wheat or any
other cereal in which bran
and germ are removed
from the endosperm and
the endosperm is reduced
to fine flour. Flour quality
is the ability of flour to
produce uniform and
attractive end products at
a competitive cost. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

3
 Classification of wheat

Hard Wheat Soft Wheat

1. High in Protein content

2. Bread Making 1. Low in protein content
Dough is strong and elastic with good 2. Low water absorption capacity
handling properties and gas holding 3. Cookies, Biscuits, Cakes, Pastry
characteristics.

4
 SEDIMENTATION VALUE
It is the degree of sedimentation of flour suspended into lactic acid during a standard time interval.
(i) Gluten protein absorbs water and swells considerably when treated with lactic acid.
(ii) The amount of water absorbed and extent of swelling depends on the quality of gluten. High quality
gluten absorbs more water and swells more than low quality gluten.

It can be determined as – Mix 3.2gm of flour with lactic acid containing bromophenol in a 100ml cylinder.
After mixing the cylinder is allowed to stand exactly for five minutes and the volume of sediments in ml is
taken.

Sedimentation value for different type of wheat flour is-

Type of Flour Sedimentation value (ml)

Soft Wheat Less than 30
Medium wheat 30-40
Hard wheat 40-60
Very hard wheat More than 60
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 Gluten Content
Gluten content of the flour determines the water holding capacity of flour and granularity of dough
on baking.

1. Weigh 25gm of flour into a dish.

2. Add about 15ml of water to the material and make it into dough.
3. Keep the dough in a beaker filled with water for 1h for the proper development of gluten.
4. Remove the dough and place it into a 150-micron IS sieve and wash it under a gentle stream of
tap water till the water passing through does not turn blue when a drop of iodine solution is
added to it.
5. Transfer the residue to a tared porcelain dish and dry in an air oven at 133°C for two hours and
determine the gluten content as –

Gluten content = 10,000(w2-w1)/w(100-M)

where, w= weight in gm of the material taken for the test
M= Moisture percentage of the sample
w1= weight in gm of the empty porcelain dish
w2= weight in gm of porcelain dish with dry gluten
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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
 FLOUR GRANULATION

It is an important quality attribute as the

improper size results in deterioration of flour
quality.

Coarse particle size is required for strong

wheat flour and fine particle size for soft
wheat flour.

Take 10gm of flour and transfer on 180-

microns sieve and sift for about two minutes
and estimate as percentage of coarse and
fine particles separately
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 PELSHENKE VALUE
Pelshenke value gives an idea of the flour strength. It is also known as whole wheat
meal fermentation test. It can be defined as time taken by dough to disintegrate due
to inbuilt pressure of carbon dioxide released by active yeast during fermentation.
About 4gm of flour is mixed with 2.25ml of yeast suspension and dough ball is
kneaded. The ball is put into a beaker containing distilled water at 30°C . The time of
keeping the dough ball and time of disintegration of ball are noted. The difference
between the two times gives Pelshenke value.

PELSHENKE VALUE TYPE OF WHEAT

Less than 60 Soft wheat
60-100 active yeast
Medium wheat
More than 100 Hard wheat

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 IDENTIFICATION OF BLEACHED FLOUR
Small amount of flour is mixed with petroleum ether or high grade gasoline. AllowYOUR LOGO
the mixture to settle. Unbleached flour will impart a yellow color to the supernatant
solvent.

DIASTATIC ACTIVITY
It is the capacity to produce reducing sugars under specified conditions. Diastatic enzymes
comprise alpha and beta amylase and bring the breakdown of starch into sugars.
Various methods to determine diastatic activity in the flour—

(i) MALTOSE ACTIVITY

It is expressed as mg of maltose produced by 10gm of flour in 1 hour at 30C. Higher
figures indicates higher diastatic activity and optimum level is between 2.5 to 3.5 percent
or 250-350mg/10gm. Flour with maltose figure of 150mg/10gm may tends to being
deficient in gassing power. When maltose figure is more than 350gm/10gm, there may be
the danger of excessive gas production. 9
 DIASTATIC ACTIVITY
(ii) FALLING NUMBER-
Higher the falling number, lower is the diastatic
activity. The instrument used is ‘Hardberg Falling
Number’ apparatus. A flour water suspension is
formed in a tube, which is submerged in a boiling
water bath and then stirred for exactly 60 seconds. A
plunger is then allowed to fall freely through the
suspension from a specified distance. Average value
for flour is 175-275 seconds.

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 QUALITY CONTROL
ANALYSIS OF FLOUR
BY
•BRABENDER AMYLOGRAPH
The Brabender system is basically a mixing unit which is commonly
used for flours; the flour is placed in a mixing bowl and water is
run in from a burette. As the dough is being mixed at a constant
temperature (30 °C), the torque required is automatically
recorded. When a consistency of 500 empirical units is reached,
the mixer is stopped and the amount of water needed is recorded;
this is known as the water absorption of the flour. The experiment
is repeated by adding the determined amount of water to the flour
at once, followed by mixing of the material The corresponding
trace of the torque against time for a strong (12% protein) and
weak (8% protein) flour is shown in Fig.1
The contrast (a) between a strong flour and a weak flour using the Brabender
system and (b) between a strong and a soft flour using an extensometer.
It may be interesting to know that one Brabender unit (1 BU) is
equivalent to a torque of one meter gram-force (1 m gf), i.e.

The Brabender amylograph is also widely used for determining the

viscosity of starch pastes and starch-based cereal gruels. In this case the
starch suspension or gruel is heated at a controlled rate (usually
1.5 °C min− 1) whilst it is being mixed, from ambient temperature to 95
°C, and the torque is continuously monitored. It is then held at 95
°C for approximately 20 min, followed by cooling at a controlled rate
(Fig. 5.12). Collison (1968), shows some traces for some different
starch products.
Typical results from a Brabender system for two different types of starch: T, tapioca; C,
corn.
● The highest viscosity that the user may encounter during the preparation of a usable paste
is indicated irrespective of the temperature (peak viscosity).

● The viscosity of the paste, when it reaches the temperature of 95 °C in relation to the peak
viscosity, reflects the ease of cooking starch.

● After cooking for 1 h at 95 °C, the viscosity curve indicates the stability or breakdown of the
paste.

● The viscosity of the cooked paste after cooling to 50 °C is a measure of the thickening
produced by cooling.

● The final viscosity after stirring for 1 h at 50 °C indicates the stability of the cooked paste
to mechanical treatment.’
Other components such as proteins, sugars and fats affect the
viscosity of starch suspensions. These interactions can be checked
using the Brabender system. The Brabender system has been
criticized on the grounds of poor reproducibility. Using starch pastes,
Kempf and Kalender (1972) have compared the Brabender system
with the Haake rotational viscometer and concluded that the results
from the Haake viscometer were much more reproducible.
Rheological test
• Rheology is a science of deformation And flow of
matter .
• Based on the rheology , the material can be classified
as – elastic, plastic , viscous, Visco- elastic .
 BRABENDER
FARINOGRAPH
 Principle
• The farinograph is a recording dough mixer that measures and records
the torque developed by the action of the mixer blades on the dough
during mixing. It is used to estimate the water absorption of flours, the
relative mixing time, the stability to overmixing, and rheological
properties of the dough during mixing.

www.Wikipedia.com
• It measures the Plasticity and Mobility of the dough.

Water absorption Percentage : The amount of Water required to

develop dough of desired Consistency when the curve rises to 500 BU.
• water absorption% age = ( x+y -50) .

Dough development time : The time for the first addition of water to
the development of dough at maximum consistency Or minimum mobility.
• The dough time is generally 5-7 min .

Dough stability : It is the time during no change Of consistency occur

Of dough occur , after it reached the optimum development. Represented in
Minutes and should be 6-8 minutes.
 Alveograph
Principle:
The Alveograph test consists of producing a test piece of dough, which, under
air pressure, turns into a bubble. This process reproduces the deformation of
the dough when subject to carbon dioxide during fermentation.

Larger Is the curve , more is the protein , thus more is the stability And
extensibility

www. Google .com

 Extensograph
It is an What is an Extensograph?
An extensograph is a tool used for measuring the flour quality and stretching behavior of dough. Extensional properties, which determine
the course of dough expansion during proofing and baking, have a direct effect on:

Loaf volume
• Quality of texture of bread crumb

• Origin

• Stress-strain data on dough were first recorded by Kosutany in 1907.3 In 1956, Rada continued experiments using the
Neolaborograph.3 Both researchers obtained similar results. The extensometer was first patented in 1928 US1759219 A by Glenn
Bowlus. Since that time the extensograph has become the standard testing device for determining the stretch-resistance characteristics
of dough.

•
 Fig. 2 dough getting sttreched
Fig. 1 An Extensograph
until it breaks

Picture ref. - BAKERpedia.com

Function
• Information on the extensional
properties of bread dough is read
directly from the diagram of the
extensograph curve, also referred
to as the extensogram. The
extensogram represents changes
in resistance, also called the
strength, of the dough to
extension as a function of the
extension distance €.1 See figure
1 comparing a strong gluten
dough to a weak gluten dough.
Picture ref. www.BAKERpedia.com
Resistance to Extension ® is indicated by the maximum height of the
curve and measured in centimeters, Brabender units (BU), or
Extensograph units (EU).2

Extensibility € is indicated by the length of the curve. It is measured

in millimeters or centimeters.2

R/E Ratio indicates the balance between dough strength ® and the
extent to which the dough can stretch before breaking €.2

• Area Under the Curve is a combination of resistance and

extensibility. It is expressed in square centimeters.
PROCEDURE
Pic ref. Youtube channel BAKERpedia
A sample of flour- water-salt dough pieces of
constant weight and of the appropriate water
absorption are prepared.
The dough piece is rounded and molded into
a cylinder under constant conditions. Each
piece is then pegged into a cradle and allowed
to rest at a controlled temperature.The piece
is extruded by a hook which travels
downwards at a constant rate. The load on the 1. Rounding dough
dough piece is recorded and the extensograph
curve is obtained.
 2. Dough getting molded into loaf

Pic ref. Youtube channel

BAKERpedia

3. After lubrication dought is then put for fermentation .

4. Then the dough is streched until it breaks. TH
The stress produced in the dough by its resistance to extreme is
recorded in form of graph.
 References :

•Physical Properties of Foods and Food Processing Systems

•Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition

•1996, Pages 137-166 (SCIENCEDIRECT.COM)