RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AND BAKING QUALITIES OF SELECTED SOFT WHEATS GROWN IN THE UNITED-STATES

Seventeen soft wheat cultivars from four classes of U.S. soft wheats, eastern soft white winter (ESWW), western soft white winter (WSWW), cl ub, and soft red winter (SRW) wheats, were selected for evaluation of their milling, physicochemical, and rheological properties and their s uitability for making Japanese-type sponge cakes (JSC) and AACC sugar- snap cookies (SSC). The texture characteristics of JSC were determined with texture profile analysis (TPA). Results indicated that some SRW and ESWW wheats could be potential substitutes for WSWW and club wheat s for JSC end-use. Both ESWW and SRW wheat short patent flours produce d relatively larger diameter cookies than did WSWW and club wheat shor t patent flours. Correlation analyses indicated that decreasing flour particle size was a very important parameter related to improving qual ity of both JSC and SSC, while starch damage was more detrimental to S SC quality. Results from the present study also showed that the alveog raph and mixograph were useful tools for evaluation of soft wheat qual ity for cake and cookie baking.