Qualitative assessment of flour with a depth consistency meter and ...

In principle, the apparatus is made up of atempered metal cylinder, having a certain weight andfixed on an axis immersed into dough in a recipient.The depth of the immersion is transmitted by anindicator fixed on a suspension device of the cylinderon a circular frame and is expressed in divisions from 0to 600.Auermann chose for weak flour testing wheatflour and rye flour dough; for wheat flour, he used alighter cylinder (35 g) and for rye flour a heavier one(110 g). In the apparatus, the cylinder weight is low sothat it can be sued for both normal wheat and ryedough and for rye fermentation (2, 3).To measure dough consistency, the flour to betested is kneaded with distilled water making ahomogeneous dough at laboratory temperature; thedough is let to ferment in a thermostat at 30 0 C forwheat flour and at 35 0 C for rye flour (2).The amount of flour was chosen so as thedough fills a glass recipient with thick walls and with adiameter of 6 cm and a height of 7 cm. To prevent thedough surface from drying in the thermostat, it was setin a capsule or in a crystallisator adding a small amountof water.Together with the dough, we introduce intothe thermostat the cylinder of the consistency meterwhich is unscrewed for its temperature to equal that ofthe dough. After fermentation, the dough is tested withthe cylinder brought to the dough temperature.Results and DiscussionsThe testing conditions have been developedseparately for the wheat flour dough and separately forthe rye flour dough.a) Wheat flourFor testing, we have chosen the T 650 type offlour, preparing a dough from 130 g of flour 14%moisture with water addition corresponding to aviscosity of 60%. If the flour has a higher or a smallermoisture than 14%, then the amount of water should berecalculated depending on flour moisture so that for100 g of dry substance made of flour we add 86 ml ofwater. We can use the formula:1.3 x flour dry substance x 0.86 – 1.3 x flourmoistureor:1.118 x flour dry substance – 1.3 x flourmoisture.We tried different dough consistencies ofdough with viscosity 55%, 60%, and 63%, since meanviscosity of panification flour varies around 60%. Moreconsistent dough proved improper because of the smalldepth of the cylinder and of the difficulties ofpreparation; likewise, results were not satisfactory inless consistent dough with a viscosity of about 70%because of the difficulty of preparation.Less consistent dough should be tested with alighter cylinder adapted to the task. The immersiondepth of the body was measured for each minute for 5minutes of which the most decisive was the depthmeasured after the first minute. For testing, we used 4high quality wheat samples milled in an experimentalmill of the 650 type. In these samples, we alsomeasured for comparison milling qualities (toughness,moisture) and panification qualities. Results are shownin Table 1.Umiditate%The immersion depth and milling qualities (toughness, moisture) and panification qualitiesDuritate12,43 Semidură12,33 Dură12,60 SemidurăFineţeafăiniiFoartefinăSemigrişatăSemigrişatăGluten umedraportat lasubstanţa uscată35,4036,9635,4712,51 Moale Fină 30,86Caracteristicileglutenului:elasticitatea,alungirea sicapacitatea deumflare in cmşi ml4101648205101631112RandamentulînmlVâscozitatea%361 67,3347 65,7338 64,3350 59,1Produse depanifiicaţie,culoare,suprafaţă,înălţimea, mmBrun închis,netedă 58Brun închis,netedă 53Brun închis,netedă 52Brun deschiscrăpată puternic50Table 1Nr. deordine1234Table 2 shows the values read with theconsistency meter after dough fermentation for 1.2 to 3hours for a duration of 5 minutes. Fermentation wascontrolled successively hour after hour, to see thevariation of the dough consistency.102