Oxidative Gelation of Solvent‐Accessible Arabinoxylans is the Predominant Consequence of Extensive Chlorination of Soft Wheat Flour

Abstract

Arabinoxylans and glutenins are two critical network-forming polymeric components of wheat flours, functionally related to mixing and baking performance and baked goods quality. For soft wheat flour applications, solvent-accessible arabinoxylans (pentosans) play a dominant role in both sweet and savory products. Solvent retention capacity (SRC) testing (Approved Method 5611, AACC International 2000) is a solvation assay for flours based on the swelling behavior of polymer networks in biochemically selective diagnostic solvents (Slade and Levine 1994; Kweon et al 2009). SRC is used to predict the functional contribution of each flour component capable of forming transient entanglement networks or permanent gel networks. Water SRC is related to overall water-holding capacity by all network-forming flour components. Diagnostic solvent that exaggerates swelling of arabinoxylan networks is 50% w/w sucrose solution in water compared to water alone. The diagnostic solvent that exaggerates swelling of glutenin networks is 5% w/w lactic acid solution in water compared to water alone. Therefore, SRC measures the magnitude of exaggerated swelling to predict the extent of func