AUSTRALIAN SALT-NOODLE FLOURS AND THEIR STARCHES COMPARED TO US WHEATFLOURS AND THEIR STARCHES

The properties of flours and starches from three soft wheats segregate d in Western Australia for noodlemaking were compared with those of 12 wheats from the United States representing six classes. Also included were seven Korean noodle flours and their starches. Wheat starches we re isolated from the flours in approximate to 65% recovery by dough wa shing and in approximate to 90% yield by protease digestion. Compared to the Australian flours, three U.S. soft red wheat flours had approxi mate to 10% more total lipids and nonstarch lipids, whereas Western Wh ite wheat flour had less. Total lipids were low in the Australian flou rs, but nonstarch lipids were average. The swelling powers (SP) of the three Australian flours at 92.5 degrees C ranged from 20.0 to 21.1 g/ g, whereas those of the 12 U.S. flours ranged from 14.8 to 19.0 g/g. M ultiple regression analysis showed that the SP of the 22 flours were p ositively correlated (r(2) = 0.93, P = 0.001) with the SP of the starc hes and negatively correlated with flour protein levels. The high SP ( 92.5) of an Australian noodle-segregate flour was attributed to its lo w protein level and to its starch's low amylose and lipid levels. Gels prepared at 6% from Gamenya starch, one of the high-swelling Australi an wheat starches, gave a high storage modulus (G') in dynamic rheolog ical tests when compared to the gels of low-swelling wheat starches. W hen the starch concentrations in gels were increased to 10.5%, the G' increased less for Gamenya than for the low-swelling starches, especia lly one from a soft wheat (Geneva). Low-swelling starch from the hard red winter wheat Karl gave gels at 8.0 - 10.5% solids with G' values t hat almost matched those of Gamenya. The size distributions of starch granules from Karl and Geneva wheats were the lowest and highest, resp ectively, among the starches tested.