Relationships between small-scale wheat quality assays and commercial testbakes

Typical commercial bakeries in the United States are highly mechanized, mas s-production facilities. U.S. hard wheat breeding programs use small-scale physical dough testing and pup loaf bake procedures to identify and select improved quality genotypes. The accuracy of such approaches in the predicti on of commercial-scale quality performance is poorly understood. Samples fr om six hard red winter wheat cultivars grown in 11 locations over three har vest years were used to correlate grain hardness, small-scale test bakes, m ixograph variables, and various measures of flour protein composition with quality assessments from commercial test laboratories. Samples were milled on both pilot- and small-scale mills. Protein content and 100-g pup loaf vo lume were more often significantly correlated with commercial test bake var iables than all other small-scale variables. Stepwise multiple regression m odels explained on average, approximate to 40% of the variation in commerci al test bake procedures. Mixograph properties, pup loaf volumes and absorpt ion, and flour protein content were the most frequent variables identified in model development. Pup loaf bake results an pilot- and small-scale mille d flours were highly correlated. Differences in milling technology do not a ppear to be a significant source: of error in relating small-scale test bak es to commercial quality.