Rheology and microstructure of wheat dough developed with controlled deformation

Undeveloped wheat dough samples were strained in shear and extensional flow between parallel plates to produce a controlled level of development. Doug h made in a standard Farinograph, considered developed dough, was used for comparison. Scanning electron microscopy images of deformed dough were subj ected to numerical image processing to characterize the protein matrix pres ent. Results were compared to dynamic rheological properties to evaluate th e influence of strain deformation on the formation of microstructure. Visco elastic moduli of wheat dough showed that developed dough had the greatest amount of structure formation, followed by extensionally-strained and shear -strained samples, respectively. Undeveloped dough showed the lowest levels of structure development. Image analysis indicated statistically significa nt differences between protein matrices in developed and undeveloped sample s, however, results were not significantly different between shear- and ext ensionally-strained samples.