doi:10.1094/CCHEM-84-3-0237 |  VIEW ARTICLE

Oxidative Gelation Measurement and Influence on Soft Wheat Batter Viscosity and End-Use Quality.

A. D. Bettge (1,2) and C. F. Morris (1). (1) USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory, E-202 Food Science & Human Nutrition Facility East, P.O. Box 646394 Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA 99164-6394. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by the USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable. (2) Corresponding author. Phone: 509-335-4062. Fax: 509-335-8573. E-mail: <abettge@wsu.edu> Cereal Chem. 84(3):237-242. Accepted February 12, 2007. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. AACC International, Inc., 2007.

Viscosity is an important end-use attribute for some soft wheat flour formulations. Specifically, in formulations with minimal gluten development, such as batters (as in cake, pancake, and doughnut) and coatings (as in tempura), viscosity is important to leavening gas retention and flow characteristics. Current tests for predictors of viscosity leave considerable unexplained variation. The potential for water-extractable arabinoxylans to form oxidative gels through ferulic acid dimerization may represent an important component of viscosity variation. A method was developed to identify variation in viscosity due to oxidative gelation. This method, comparing viscosity of flour slurries made with water, a peroxide-peroxidase system, and a system with xylanase, indicated that two, and likely three, types of oxidative gelation were contributing to viscosity. Predicted viscosity due to inter-arabinoxylan gelation through ferulic acid dimerization, di-tyrosine formation among proteins, and ferulic acid-tyrosine bond formation varied among wheat cultivars. Oxidative gel formation increased batter viscosity probably due to water sequestration; this effect was correlated with reduction in the sugar snap cookie spread (diameter). Results indicate that oxidative gelation is an important contributor to batter viscosity and also contributes to the quality attributes of dough systems.