A A C C   2 0 0 0   A n n u a l   M e e t i n g

Flour lipids, a minor component of wheat flour, significantly affect the quality of bread but reports of their effects in biscuits are very limited. In this work, the effect of endogenous flour lipids on the quality of UK type shortdough biscuits was studied. Flour lipids were extracted from soft wheat flour and characterised by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. A miniature biscuit making method was used. The quality of baked biscuits was assessed by determining their dimensional and textural properties. The internal structure of the biscuits was observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The effect of flour lipids was not masked despite the high levels of bakery fat added to the recipe for biscuit making. Biscuits baked from defatted flour had significantly different dimensions and hardness from those baked from the control flour. Scanning Electron Micrographs showed that the biscuits made with defatted flour were denser and had smaller gas cells than those of the biscuits made with the control flour. Reconstitution of the flour lipids restored biscuit quality. The non-starch lipids were fractionated into polar and non-polar lipid classes and their effects on biscuit quality were investigated. Polar lipids were found to be beneficial in restoring the required biscuit characteristics whereas non-polar lipids did not improve the biscuit quality when added back at their natural level. The effects of sub-fractions of polar and non-polar lipid classes on biscuit quality are being evaluated.