293 Monitoring dough development in real time using a near infrared spectrometer.

J. PSOTKA, R. CHEN, and M. OLEWNIK. American Institute of Baking, 1213 Bakers Way, Manhattan, KS 66502.

Dough mixing is most often determined by physical measurements based on mixing torque or power consumption rather than chemical changes during dough development. Instruments for these measurements are usually used in laboratories and are very sensitive to the operating environment. In this study, full formula dough was prepared in a Labtron Mixer with a double helical agitator. The mixer was equipped with a DA-7000 diode-array near infrared (NIR) spectrometer to monitor the dough mixing. The continuous wavelength (400 to 1700 nm) spectra could not be used to specify the dough mixing at a given time point. However, the change in absorbance at specific wavelengths during dough mixing may be used to differentiate doughs from various treatments. After raw spectral data of 1380 nm wavelength was processed, the complicated spectral curve was transformed to a configured line by accumulation of spectral data after certain arithmetic computations. The line configuration of the cumulative spectral data changes with water absorption, flour quality, and formulation. It was found that a deflection on the line was very critical to determination of the dough development. The time of the deflection was very close to the mixing time determined by the Labtron. There was a good correlation coefficient (R(^2) = 0.89, n = 37) between time of the deflection from NIR and dough development time from Labtron. Other dough mixing properties will be further investigated. This presentation will discuss NIR.