102 Predicting baking performance using the 2g Mixograph.

B. J. DOBRASZCZYK and J. D. Schofield. Department of Food Science & Technology, University of Reading, U.K.

There is a strong commercial need for a rapid and reliable means of predicting the baking quality of commercial wheat samples at mill intake. None of the currently used rapid intake tests (such as the SDS test) are capable of discriminating the baking quality of UK wheat, and other methods such as HPLC or Capillary Electrophoresis, which are successful in discriminating varieties, are too slow and technically difficult for use as a rapid intake test. The 2g Mixograph was investigated as a rapid means of assessing the baking quality of several UK wheat varieties obtained from 5 different sites, and also for assessing commercial wheat gluten quality. Fifteen Mixograph parameters were extracted from each Mixograph trace using the Mixsmart software programme, and correlated with baking volume using multiple regression statistical analysis to give a prediction of baking volume. Sample site effects were shown to have a considerable negative influence on the prediction of baking volume. Regressions calculated independently for each site gave predictions of baking volume with R(^2) values between 0.805 to 0.995. Mixograph parameters obtained from commercial glutens of varying quality were correlated with test baking volumes, based on 6% gluten addition to a control flour. Three Mixograph parameters gave a prediction of volume with R(^2) = 0.954.