TEXTURAL AND VISCOELASTIC CHANGES OF CANNED BISCUIT DOUGH DURING MICROWAVE AND CONVENTIONAL BAKING

Textural changes of canned biscuit wheat dough during microwave and co nventional baking were described and contrasted using empirical method s. Drastic increases of specific volume and modulus of elasticity were observed in the beginning and the ending periods of both baking proce sses. Weight loss showed a significantly (p < 0.001) linear relationsh ip with baking time for both baking methods, but the weight loss rate constant for microwave baking was 0.36%/s significantly (p < 0.01) hig her than conventional baking. Multi-dimensional Scaling showed that mi crowave baking for 50 s best resembles the textural characteristics of wheat dough under conventional baking for 10 min. Stress relaxation m odeling indicated that microwave baking produced higher viscosity and modulus of elasticity values which translates into baked biscuits with undesirable tougher texture.