Relation between ultrasonic properties, rheology and baking quality for bread doughs of widely differing formulation

BACKGROUND The objective was to evaluate whether an ultrasonic reflectance technique has predictive capacity for breadmaking performance of doughs made from a wide range of formulation conditions. Two flours of contrasting dough strength augmented with different levels of ingredients (inulin, oil, emulsifier or salt) were used to produce different bread doughs with a wide range of properties. Breadmaking performance was evaluated by conventional large-strain rheological tests on the dough and by assessment of loaf quality. The ultrasound tests were performed with a broadband reflectance technique in the frequency range of 0.3-6 MHz. RESULTS Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that ultrasonic attenuation and phase velocity at frequencies between 0.3 and 3 MHz are good predictors for rheological and bread scoring characteristics. CONCLUSIONS Ultrasonic parameters had predictive capacity for breadmaking performance for a wide range of dough formulations. Lower frequency attenuation coefficients correlated well with conventional quality indices of both the dough and the bread.