Effects of Flour Composition, Physical Dough Properties and Baking Process on Hearth Loaf Properties Studied by Multivariate Statistical Methods

Summary

The objective of this work was to study how chemical composition of the flours, physical properties of doughs, and the processing conditions during baking were related to variability in the bread loaf characteristics using partial least squares regression analyses. Sifted flours from eight wheats were characterised and physical properties of doughs were measured. Bread loaves were baked using a small-scale, hearth loaf baking procedure with variable mixing and fermentation conditions. The chemical composition of flour samples and the physical properties of the doughs contributed more to the explanation of the variability in the bread loaf properties than did the baking process. The HMW-GS and the protein content explained much of the variation along the first two PLS-factors. Dough resistance to extension and Mixogram peak height correlated strongly with loaf height and the height/width along the first PLS-factor, whereas the dough extensibility correlated negatively. The total flour lipid content and some of the fatty acids of the total lipid fraction also varied along the first PLS-factor. The fibre components of the flours and the composition of the NSP fraction were mostly expressed along PLS-factor 2 and the subsequent PLS-factors.