Chapter 11 - Advanced research applications

Abstract

The function of gluten proteins in wheat flour dough and therefore the quality of wheat-based food products is very well known. During mixing of wheat dough, an increment of dough strength is reported by the Farinograph, this is due to gluten network formation. It has been reported that the aggregates of high molecular weight glutenins and low molecular weight glutenins are disrupted as the gluten network forms. After the dough reaches its maximum strength, the extra addition of mechanical force during mixing starts to decrease. This is known as gluten network disruption. Different techniques have been used to visualize the gluten network at different stages of mixing, like fluorescent imaging and fluorescent fingerprint. Moreover, just a specific fraction of gluten, gliadin, has been tagged with antibodies-quantum dot complexes to visualize its distribution at different stages of mixing. Antibodies for the two major fractions of glutenin, high and low molecular weight glutenins, have been developed and conjugated to different color quantum dots to visualize high and low molecular weight glutenins in wheat dough. The detection of high and low molecular weight glutenins along with gliadins in dough has already been reported. These are now being used to study the distribution of the three fractions of glutenin at different mixing times in a Brabender Farinograph. The use of the gluten-fraction specific visualization techniques coupled with the Farinograph brings a unique opportunity to identify the role of each specific gluten subunit during dough development and disruption. A study of the distribution of the extension rate and shear rate, and prediction of maximum stable bubble size inside the C.W. Brabender Farinograph is also presented.