Foods containing wheat flour are primarily bread, but also products such as barber, pasta, cakes, crackers and biscuits, and breakfast cereals.
The main analyzes performed on wheat flour as a quality parameter are given below.
- Sieve Analysis: Sieve analysis, which is a physical analysis, is done to determine the fineness of the flour.
- Moisture Determination: Since undesirable conditions such as mold and fungus infestation can occur in flours with high moisture content, humidity is also an important quality parameter.
- Ash Determination: Ash is the residue formed by the mineral substances left behind as a result of burning. The high ash value is accepted as an indicator of the flour's efficiency.
- Determination of Wet/Dry Gluten: Wet gluten is an elastic substance found in the composition of wheat and formed by the gluten proteins absorbing water and swelling. Dry gluten determination is made by drying the sample after wet gluten analysis.
- Gluten Index Determination: Provides information about gluten quality. After the wet gluten amount is obtained, the gluten index analysis is performed by separating the intact and damaged gluten from each other by centrifugation.
- Determination of sedimentation: It is used to determine whether wheat flours have bread-making qualities or not. Flours containing large amounts of gluten and flours with good gluten quality tend to settle more slowly and therefore have higher sedimentation values.
- Determination of Alveograph: It is an analysis to determine the resistance of the dough against swelling. The most important value in the alveograph chart is the W (energy) value. The P value indicates the resistance of the flour, and the L value indicates the elongation ability of the flour.
