100 Understanding arabinoxylan functionality in breadmaking: Use of a combination of wheat flour reconstitution and in vitro endoxylanase breakdown of water extractable and unextractable arabinoxylan in dough rheological measurements.

C. COURTIN, K. Van Den Bulck, and J. A. Delcour. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Kardinaal Mercierlaan 92, Heverlee, B- 3001, Belgium.

Recent research, combining wheat fractionation and reconstitution techniques with in vitro endoxylanase degradation of different arabinoxylan fractions, led to the hypothesis that endoxylanases improve loaf volume mainly by converting water unextractable (WU-AX) in water extractable (WE-AX) arabinoxylan or, more specific, by decreasing the level of WU-AX and increasing the level of WE-AX. To gain understanding of the underlying mechanism of these findings, the above mentioned methodology was used for rheological measurements on dough.