Water and Thermal Properties Characterized in Phases of Wheat Flour Dough during Thawing and Baking Conditions

Abstract

Phase separation of dough is based on the thermodynamic incompatibility of its components. The studies on phase-separated systems allow to model, understand, and develop foods. Model dough systems made with water and wheat flour were disassembled into their main structural phases, i.e. liquid, gel, gluten and starch phases, by ultracentrifugation, and further characterized with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and microscopy. The study of phase separation, water properties and thermal transitions in phases showed that wheat flour doughs are mainly characterized by the volume fractions of liquid, gel and gluten. The different samples of flours were highly affected by flour combinations. The freezable water (FW) of each separated phase influenced the water properties of the whole dough. The FW is further related to starch thermal behaviour of dough systems at baking temperatures. The methods used here were therefore found relevant from a baking perspective for initial characterizing of flours and dough.