CHEMICAL AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHANGES IN WHEAT AND WHEAT PRODUCTS INDUCED BY ELEVATED TEMPERATURES: III. THE INFLUENCE OF GERM CONSTITUENTS ON BAKING QUALITY AND THEIR RELATION TO IMPROVEMENT IN FLOUR INDUCED BY HEAT AND CHEMICAL IMPROVERS

Abstract

Experiments were conducted in an effort to determine the cause of enhancement in baking quality previously observed on heat treatment of straight-grade flour not aged nor bleached. Heat treatment of straight-grade flour matured with agene (nitrogen trichloride), or of unaged fifth middlings flour (highly refined mill stream) did not result in any essential improvement in baking quality, and the unheated flours gave only a slight positive response to bromate. Similarly, ether extracted straight-grade flour gave no appreciable response to bromate and no significant improvement due to heat treatment. Germ added to fifth middlings flour markedly reduced its baking quality when determined by the basic procedure, as reflected in poorer handling qualities of the dough, and in the baked loaf by a decrease in loaf volume, underfermented characteristics, and coarse open texture. Increasing the fermentation time, addition of bromate, or heating the germ before admixture reduced the deleterious effects of the germ. The experiments indicate that response to bromate, and improvement of natural flour induced by proper heat treatment is associated with the presence of germ in the flour. Oxidation of certain germ constituents—presumably the phosphatides—is suggested as the primary change involved in such improvement. Addition of lecithin to middlings flour caused a marked response in loaf volume to the addition of bromate which is considered as indirect evidence that the phosphatides are involved. Heat treatment of germ induced a marked increase in the hydrogen ion concentration of aqueous extracts and a decrease in the iodine number of the ether extract. It is concluded from this series of investigations that heat treatment of flour is detrimental to gluten quality, but decreases the deleterious effect of germ present in the flour. Unaged flours containing low grade mill streams may show an enhancement in baking quality by heat treatment, but the improvement will not equal that induced by chemical improvers which apparently act primarily on the germ constituents.