LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

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Studying the effects of whole-wheat flour on the rheological

properties and the quality attributes of whole-wheat saltine cracker
using SRC, alveograph, rheometer, and NMR technique
Juan Li a, b, Gary G. Hou b, *, Zhengxing Chen a, **, Ai-Lan Chung b, Kathleen Gehring b
a
School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi,
Jiangsu 214122, PR China
b
Wheat Marketing Center, Inc., 1200 NW Naito Parkway, Suite 230, Portland, OR 97209, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Quality attributes of soft wheat products are affected by physicochemical characteristics and rheological
Received 2 May 2013 properties of wheat flour. Whole-wheat flour has a significant impact on baking qualities (stack height,
Received in revised form stack weight, specific volume, and breaking strength) of whole-wheat saltine crackers due to its high
26 July 2013
water absorption capacity. SRC profiles, alveograph and rheometer parameters were determined to
Accepted 30 July 2013
observe the effect of whole-wheat flour on whole-wheat cracker flour blends. NMR technique was uti-
lized to demonstrate the water migration and competition in whole-wheat dough components. Results
Keywords:
of SRC testing revealed that the water absorption of whole-wheat flour blends increased with the
Rheological properties
Whole-wheat saltine cracker
addition level of whole-wheat flour. The rheological properties (G0 , G00 , P, L, W values) were influenced
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) significantly by the presence of whole-wheat flour. Results of NMR indicated that water migrated from
Water migration gluten network into arabinoxylans matrix in whole-wheat dough system, resulting in inferior saltine
Solvent retention capacity (SRC) cracker-baking qualities of whole-wheat flour, i.e., small breaking strength, stack height and specific
volume. The stack height, specific volume, and breaking strength of end products showed significant
correlations with the arabinoxylans, dough extensibility, and gluten index of whole-wheat flour.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction wheat flour, especially the whole-wheat flour can significantly

Crackers are an important product line within the large-scale
baking industry, and are a natural fit as portable and convenient
foods. Crackers can be divided into three broad categories: saltine
cracker (soda cracker), chemically leavened cracker, and enzyme
cracker (Moore & Strouts, 2008). The quality of wheat products is
determined by the rheological behaviours of dough. The pasting
properties of starch gave useful prediction to the quality of soft
wheat products such as cookies, crackers and cakes (Serpil, Kevser,
Bengihan, & Hamit, 2008). The volumes of bread and puff pastry
were correlated with rheological properties of the dough (Sliwinski,
Kolster, & van Vliet, 2004). Therefore, understanding the rheological
properties and machinability of dough system is essential for
guiding the production of wheat products. However, whole-wheat
flour has a major impact on the rheological properties of dough
and quality attributes of end products. The water absorption of
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 503 295 0823; fax: þ1 503 295 2735.
** Corresponding author. Fax: þ86 51085867273.
E-mail addresses: ghou@wmcinc.org, houpdx@yahoo.com (G.G. Hou).
affect the rheological properties of cracker dough and end-product
quality. The formation of gluten in dough system was restrained by
whole-wheat flour of high-level water absorption capacity, which
was undesirable in the functionality of cracker flour (Slade, Levine,
Craig, & Arciszewski, 1994). Presumably, the arabinoxylans which
are the main non-starch polysaccharides in wheat bran compete for
water with the dough main polymers, gluten and starch in whole-
wheat dough system, and interrupt the protein aggregation
behaviour during heating (Rosell, Santos, & Collar, 2010).
At present, solvent retention capacity (SRC) and alveograph are
the two traditional methods for estimating the potential perfor-
mance of soft wheat flour. The SRC tests were developed to evaluate
the quality of soft wheat flour in cookie and cracker products. In
general, alveograph is more appropriate for predicting the protein
functionality of soft wheat flours, while farinograph and mixograph
are commonly used to evaluate hard wheat bread flours (Levine &
Slade, 2004). Both the SRC and alveograph results are affected by
the presence of wheat bran in flours. Since the alveograph mea-
sures the fixed-absorption dough, having bran involved will greatly
affect the amount of water available for gluten formation. Further,

0023-6438/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2013.07.022
44 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50

bran particles can physically disrupt the gluten matrix, leading to Table 2
premature bubble rupture (Li et al., 2012). Flour analysis.

NMR technique which is a useful tool to detect the macro-water Amount of Moisture Protein Ash Wet gluten Gluten Starch
distribution and migration among high-moisture samples non- SWWW (g/100 g) (g/100 g)b (g/100 g)b (g/100 g)b index damage
invasively (Stapley, Hyde, Gladden, & Fryer, 1997) was successfully (g/100 g)a (g/100 g)b

applied to examine the water migration between macromolecules 0 13.2 8.43 0.442 24.5 60.9 3.1
(arabinoxylans and gluten network) in whole-wheat bread dough 25 12.5 8.92 0.734 24.4 44.1 3.1
50 11.7 9.35 1.015 28.6 26.2 3.4
system (Li et al., 2012). Thus, the objectives of this study were: 1) to
75 11.0 9.92 1.241 26.0 8.4 3.4
investigate the effect of whole-wheat flour on the rheological 100 10.3 9.77 1.522 22.2 6.6 3.4
properties of whole-wheat saltine cracker flour blends using the a
Abbreviations as in Table 1.
rheometer, alveograph, and SRC testing; 2) to verify the mechanism b
14 g/100 g mb.
of the impact of whole-wheat flour on the quality attributes of
whole-wheat saltine cracker using the NMR technique; and 3) to
blends were determined according to the AACC International
establish the relationship between the rheological properties of
Approved Methods and results are shown in Table 2.
whole-wheat flour blends and end-product quality parameters.

2.3. Whole-wheat saltine cracker preparation

2. Materials and methods

2.3.1. Formula
2.1. Materials
In the sponge, ingredients included flour (65 g/100 g), sour-
dough starter (4 g/100 g), instant dry yeast (0.3 g/100 g), yeast foods
Soft white whole-wheat flour (SWWW; UltragrainÒ) was kindly
(0.03 g/100 g), and water (27 g/100 g, 29 g/100 g, 30 g/100 g, 32 g/
provided by ConAgra Flour Mills, Inc. (Omaha, NE, USA). Soft red
100 g, and 34 g/100 g water was added into five whole-wheat flour
winter flour (SRW; Golden Shield, enriched and unbleached) and
blends, respectively). The sourdough starter was initially supplied
hard red winter flour (HRW; Harvest King winter wheat, enriched
by the Oregon State University and was fed every day using old
and unbleached) were obtained from General Mills, Inc. (Minne-
starter (50 g), HRW flour (100 g), and distilled water (50 g). The
apolis, MN, USA). Baking soda (ARM & HAMMER Div. of Church &
starter ingredients were mixed (Hobart A-200 mixer) at 1st speed
Dwigh, Co., Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA), yeast food (ADM Arkady Inc.,
for 5 min until well blended, and the starter dough was placed in a
Olathe, KS, USA), salt (Morton Salt, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), Crisco
container with a lid until it tripled in volume at room temperature.
vegetable shortening (trans-fat free) (J.M. Smucker Company, Orr-
The dough ingredients included flour (35 g/100 g), shortening
ville, OH, USA) and instant dry yeast (Lesaffre Yeast Corporation,
(14 g/100 g), salt (0.8 g/100 g), water (1 g/100 g), and baking soda
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) were purchased from a local super-
(determined by the total titratable acidity of the sponge). All in-
market (Portland, Oregon, USA). The chemical reagents (ACS grade)
gredients were scaled on the basis of 500-g flour weight. Instant
used for conducting SRC tests were purchased from Nurnberg Sci-
dry yeast, yeast foods, and salt were weighed and dispersed sepa-
entific Company (Portland, OR, USA).
rately in the amount of water required in the formula before use.
2.2. Whole-wheat saltine cracker flour blends preparation and
2.3.2. Baking soda dosage determination
analysis
The total titratable acidity (TTA) test was considered as an
indication of the fermentation process. To determine the baking
Whole-wheat saltine cracker flour samples were composited
soda dosage in the cracker dough formula and to control the final
from the blends of SWWW, SRW, and HRW flour (Table 1). HRW
product pH (in the range of 7e8), the TTA of cracker sponge was
flour is suitable for making crackers (Slade et al., 1994) and meets
determined after 18-h sponge fermentation. TTA was prepared by
the requirement of relatively high gluten strength for high-quality
mixing 15 g sponge with 100 mL deionized water and stirred for
cracker flour (Kweon, Slade, & Levine, 2011b). From our preliminary
30 s at 2nd speed using the Hamilton Beach commercial blender
trials (data not shown), the optimum addition range of HRW flour
(model 908 Clamshell, Procter-Silex, Inc., USA) until the sponge
was 10e20 g/100 g which was determined by the breaking strength
sample was completely dispersed. Then, the sponge slurry was
of end products (if HRW was 20 g/100 g, the end-product texture
transferred into a 250 mL beaker with a stir bar inside and placed
became harder and less crispy), so 15 g/100 g of HRW flour was
onto a magnetic stirrer (model PC-520, Coring Laboratory Stirrer,
added consistently in each group, except for the 100 g/100 g
USA). 0.1 M/L NaOH solution was used to titrate (Brinkmann Dis-
SWWW group. The addition levels of SWWW flour in flour blends
pensette, Germany) the sponge slurry until a final pH value of 6.6.
were 0 g/100 g (control flour blend), 25 g/100 g, 50 g/100 g, 75 g/
The volume of NaOH solution used for titration was referred as the
100 g and 100 g/100 g, respectively.
TTA value (Sutherland, 1989). The relationship between TTA and
Protein (AACCI 46-30.01), moisture (AACCI 44-15.02), ash
baking soda dosage is shown in Table 3.
(AACCI 08-01.01), starch damage (AACCI 76-33.01), wet gluten and
gluten index (AACCI 38-12.02) of five different whole-wheat flour
Table 3
Total tritable acidity (TTA) of sponge and baking soda
Table 1
dosage in whole-wheat cracker dough.
Flour blend composition of whole-wheat saltine crackers.
TTA (mL) Baking soda (g)
Amount of Sponge (65 g/100 g) Dough (35 g/100 g)
per 500 g flour
SWWW (g/100 g)a
SWWW SRW HRW SWWW SRW
7e8 3.0
0 50 15 35 9e11 4.0
25 25 25 15 35 12e13 5.0
50 50 15 35 14e16 6.0
75 50 15 25 10 17e18 7.0
100 65 35 18e19 7.5
a
20e21 8.0
SWWW: soft white whole-wheat; SRW: soft red winter; HRW: hard red winter.
 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50
2.3.3. Production procedures
The sponge ingredients were mixed at 1st speed for 3 min and
2nd speed for another 2 min in a Hobart A-200 mixer equipped
with a McDuffy mixing bowl (National Manufacturing, Co. Lincoln,
NE, USA). Then, the sponge was fermented at 28  C and 85% RH in a
fermentation cabinet (National Manufacturing Co., Lincoln, NE,
USA) for 18 h. After the 18-h fermentation, the remaining flour,
water, shortening and dry ingredients (salt and baking soda) were
mixed with the sponge and proofed for 2 h (when the dough pH
was 6e6.5) under the same conditions as the sponge. After the
dough was proofed, 500 g dough was weighed and placed into a
plastic container and shaped into a rectangular block
(15  13.5  2.5 cm). The shaped dough block was formed into a
thin sheet using the SSO-615 Seewer Rondo Reversible Lamination
Machine (Commercial Food Preparing Machine, Rondo Inc., USA) to
reduce the thickness until the height, width, and length of the
dough sheet were about 1.3e1.4 mm, 22.5 cm, and 40.0 cm,
respectively. The detailed dough lamination settings were listed as
follows:
Set initial roll gap to 12 mm / 9 mm / 6 mm / folded both ends
to the center, and then turned 90 / 12 mm / 10 mm /
8 mm / 6 mm / 4 mm / folded the dough into trifold / 10 mm /
8 mm / 6 mm / turned 90 / 4 mm / 3 mm / folded the dough
into trifold / 10 mm / 8 mm / 6 mm / turned 90 / 4 mm /
3 mm / 2 mm / 1.4 mm / adjusted roll gap to achieve a final sheet
thickness of 1.3e1.4 mm.
The dough sheet was then transferred onto a specially designed
cutter-docker (Pizzinatto & Hoseney, 1980), and sprinkled with salt
followed by using a rolling pin to roll on the dough sheet to suffi-
ciently perforate it. The deck oven (PICCOLOI-3 Wachtel Company,
Germany) and a specially designed rectangular-shaped baking rack
(CB5 baking band) were preheated for 30 min at a 220  C top
temperature and 215  C bottom temperature. Loaded the docked
cracker dough sheet onto the baking rack and baked in the deck
oven for 6e7 min (maximum bubbles appeared on the surface of
crackers and their color became brown). After baking was com-
plete, the cracker sheet was cooled at room temperature for 30 min
and broken into individual pieces for analysis.
2.4. End-product evaluation
Stack height, stack weight, specific volume, texture analysis,
color, moisture and pH of the end products were determined. The
stack height and stack weight were measured using seven sample
pieces. The stack height was measured by a vernier caliper (Mitu-
toyo Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Japan), measuring once and turning
the crackers 90 and measuring again to obtain the average value.
The cracker specific volume was determined with the BVM-L 370
TexVol (TexVol Instruments Inc., Viken, Sweden) by dividing the
volume by weight. The breaking strength of the cracker was
measured by the TA-XTPlus Texture Analyzer (Texture Technologies
Corp., Scarsdale, NY, USA) using the three point bending fixture
(model TA-92). This adjustable three point bend/snap fixture was
placed onto the TA-90 platform. An individual cracker was placed
over the two legs (4.5 cm apart) and a metal knife blade (model TA-
43R, 3-mm thick with rounded end) was centered over the middle
of the cracker and moved downward during testing until the
cracker broke. The pretest speed, test speed, and post-test speed
were 2.0 mm/s, 3.0 mm/s and 10.0 mm/s, respectively. The test
distance was 35.0 mm and contact force was 5 g. The peak force
displayed in the texture graph was the force required to break the
cracker and was recorded as the breaking force of the cracker. The
color (L, a*, b*) values of the crackers were determined by the CR-
410 Chroma Meter (Konica Minolta Sensing, Inc., Japan). All mea-
surements were conducted at least three times.
45
2.5. SRC testing
Solvent retention capacity (SRC) tests including water SRC (W-
SRC), lactic acid SRC (LA-SRC), sodium carbonate SRC (SC-SRC), and
sucrose SRC (Suc-SRC) of flour blends of varying SWWW were ac-
cording to the AACC International Approved Method 56-11.02.
2.6. Rheological measurements
2.6.1. Alveograph analysis
Alveograph parameters were determined by the Alveo-
Consistograph (Chopin, Villeneuve-La-Garenne, France) according
to the AACC International Approved Method 54-30.02. Dough
tenacity (P), extensibility (L) and deformation energy (W) were
determined.
2.6.2. Rheometer determination
The rheological properties (storage modulus, G0 ; loss modulus,
00
G ) of whole-wheat flour blends were determined using an AR1000
Rheometer (TA Instruments, New Castle, USA). The testing probe
was a standard steel parallel plate (20 mm diameter, 1 mm-gap
distance). Each sample was determined in triplicates under the
frequency sweep test (frequency: 0.1e100 Hz; temperature: 28  C).
2.7. NMR
Water migration between the arabinoxylans (AX) matrix and
gluten network in whole-wheat cracker dough system was
observed using the NMR system which is represented by spinspin
relaxation time (T2). The relaxation measurements were performed
on a Niumag Desktop Pulsed NMR Analyzer (Shanghai Niumag
Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., China). The detailed parameters
and procedures of measurements were described in our previous
study (Li et al., 2012).
2.8. Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses were conducted with the SPSS software 17
(SPSS Institute, Chicago, USA). Pearson’s correlation coefficients
between quality of end products and SRC and alveograph param-
eters were also calculated.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of whole-wheat flour on end-product baking quality
Quality characteristics of end products were affected by
different composition levels of whole-wheat flour (Table 4). The
stack weight, stack height, specific volume and breaking strength of
crackers decreased as the addition level of SWWW flour increased.
The moisture content and pH of the end products were in the
commercial range of 2e4 g/100 g and 7e8, respectively.
Carbon dioxide gas generation reduced the dough density and
dry matter was lost during dough fermentation (Faridi & Johnson,
1977). With the increasing level of whole-wheat flour, more vola-
tile gas and acids were produced resulting in decreased stack height
and stack weight of crackers. The higher amount of whole-wheat
flour tended to produce an uneven and less puffiness internal
texture. It was noticed that the gluten index values of flour blends
reduced dramatically from 60.9 to 6.6 with the increase of whole-
wheat flour (Table 2). Therefore, crackers with higher level of
SWWW flour were more fragile (less breaking force) and had
smaller specific volume. The AX in whole-wheat flour are a major
component of cell wall polysaccharide and are present in the aleu-
rone and bran layers of the wheat kernels (Courtin & Delcour, 2002).
46 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50

Table 4
End-product quality evaluation.a

Amount of SWWW Stack weightc,d (g) Stack heightd (mm) Specific volume (mL/g) Breaking strength (g) Moisture (g/100 g) pH
(g/100 g)b

0 27.2  0.2a 34.8  0.4a 1.27  0.06a 1236.3  70.1a 3.1 7.7
25 27.0  0.2a 32.7  0.3b 1.25  0.02a 1052.7  82.6b 3.1 7.6
50 26.5  0.3b 29.8  0.4c 1.14  0.04b 829.8  25.6c 3.9 7.1
75 25.1  0.3c 28.9  0.3c 1.02  0.03c 732.0  23.0c 3.7 7.4
100 24.9  0.4d 26.8  0.6d 1.00  0.02c 700.6  16.6c 3.6 7.3
a
Data were the mean value  S.D. Values in the same column followed by the same letters are not significantly different (P < 0.05). Standard deviation was at least three
replicate experiments.
b
Abbreviations as in Table 1.
c
Dry basis.
d
Stack of 7 crackers.

AX are a highly water-absorbing component, which exert a negative
effect on the quality of crackers, especially on the volume of crackers
(Kweon, Slade, & Levine, 2011a). The high water-absorbing com-
ponents restrained the hydration of the gluten proteins from
forming the proper network needed for gas retention. The cracker
dough was too tight to allow for puffing during baking, resulting in
reduction of the stack height and specific volume of end products
(Carey et al., 2002). The generation of discontinuous protein film
decreased the breaking strength and reduced the bubbling of the
whole-wheat crackers during baking. Thus, the development of the
gluten network during dough machining was a decisive factor to the
superior baking quality of whole-wheat flour blends. As expected,
the color of the end products gradually became browner and darker
with the increased ratio of whole-wheat flour (Fig. 1).
3.2. Effect of whole-wheat flour on SRC profiles of whole-wheat
flour blends
a better predictor of overall performance of cracker flour than the
LA-SRC value alone (Kweon et al., 2011b). The SRC values and GPI of
cracker flours are shown in Fig. 2. The SRC values of control flour
blend (0 g/100 g SWWW) which was a blend of 85 g/100 g SRW and
15 g/100 g HRW were: W-SRC ¼ 55.3 g/100 g, LA-SRC ¼ 95.5 g/
100 g, SC-SRC ¼ 72.3 g/100 g, and Suc-SRC ¼ 104.1 g/100 g. Typical
standard SRC values for soft wheat sponge-and-dough cracker (e.g.,
saltine crackers) flour were reported as: W-SRC  57 g/100 g, LA-
SRC  100 g/100 g, SC-SRC  72 g/100 g, and Suc-SRC  96 g/100 g
(Kweon et al., 2011b). The four SRC values of the control flour blend
were similar to the typical standard except for the slight differences
in LA-SRC and Suc-SRC, which may be due to the addition of 15 g/
100 g HRW flour. If there was more HRW, the LA-SRC would be
greater, probably over 100 g/100 g. The reduction in LA-SRC
compared to the target range was probably due to the SRW, but
the increase in Suc-SRC was probably due to the HRW. The SRC
values and GPI (0.54) of the control flour blend suggested that it

The gluten performance index (GPI) is defined as GPI ¼ Lactic

acid SRC/(Sodium carbonate SRC þ Sucrose SRC) and considered as

Fig. 1. The color values (L, a* and b*) of the crackers made from five different addition
levels of soft white whole-wheat (SWWW) flours. L: lightness; a*: redness-greenness;
b*: blueness-yellowness.
Fig. 2. Effects of soft white whole-wheat (SWWW) flour on the solvent retention
capacity (SRC) values of whole-wheat flour blends. SRC: solvent retention capacity; W-
SRC: water SRC; LA-SRC: lactic acid SRC; SC-SRC: sodium carbonate SRC; Suc-SRC:
sucrose SRC; GPI (Gluten Performance Index) ¼ Lactic Acid SRC/(Sodium
Carbonate þ Sucrose) SRC.
 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50 47

was within a marginal range of soda cracker flour with sufficient

gluten strength and good cracker-baking performance. The GPI of
other cracker flour blends containing various amounts of SWWW
were much lower than that of the control flour blend, indicating
weaker gluten strength and less puffing during baking. As the
percentage of SWWW flour increased in the flour blend, both the
SRC values and GPI changed gradually, in proportion to the amount
of SWWW added.
LA-SRC reflects protein content, glutenin characteristics and
general gluten functionality; SC-SRC is associated with the level of
damaged starch; Suc-SRC is related to the pentosan (also known as
arabinoxylans) content; and W-SRC is affected by all of those flour
constituents (AACCI Methods 56-11.02). Damaged starch is small
particles of starch broken away from the main starch granules in
wheat during milling, and has a strong water retention capacity
(Mulla, Bharadwaj, Annapure, & Singhal, 2010). When starch
granules are damaged, cleavage of the smaller granule will facilitate
hydration and swelling during dough preparation (Tester, 1997).
The damaged starch of whole-wheat flour blends were at low levels
(between 3.1 and 3.4 g/100 g) and increased slightly with the
increased level of whole-wheat flour due to the low-level damaged
starch (3.1 g/100 g) of Ultragrain soft white flour used in the study.
Results showed that the W-SRC, SC-SRC, and Suc-SRC values
increased with the amount of whole-wheat flour due to the in-
crease of high water absorbent components such as damaged
starch and arabinoxylans in flours.
LA-SRC had no linear correlation with the W-SRC, SC-SRC and
Suc-SRC values, and the LA-SRC and GPI values did not correlate
with the composition level of SWWW flour. However, the W-SRC Fig. 3. Effects of soft white whole-wheat (SWWW) flour on the alveograph values of
increased with the amount of SWWW flour in the flour blend. The whole-wheat flour blends. P: dough tenacity; L: dough extensibility; W: dough
deformation energy.
SRC values (W-SRC ¼ 66.2 g/100 g, LA-SRC ¼ 74.9 g/100 g, SC-
SRC ¼ 84.2 g/100 g and Suc-SRC ¼ 112.3 g/100 g) of 100 g/100 g
SWWW cracker flour were significantly different from those of the
strong the cracker dough will be too elastic to resist puffing during
typical standard flour as reported. The SRC values of 100 g/100 g
baking. If L-value is less than 90, the implication is that the dough is
whole-wheat flour exhibited higher water absorption, weak gluten
lack of extensibility and bubble breakage will occur during baking
strength (lower level of LA-SRC value), and higher levels of
(Slade et al., 1994). The destructive and cleaving effects of wheat
damaged starch and arabinoxylans than other flour blends with
brans with large-sized particles and native enzymes on the internal
less SWWW flour. The GPI of 100 g/100 g whole-wheat flour was
gluten network result in less extensibility of gluten matrix (Li et al.,
very low (GPI ¼ 0.38), indicating much inferior baking performance
2012). Although the alveograph values of control flour blend had a
than the flour blends of lower content of whole-wheat flour.
slight difference from the “gold standard”, the control flour blend
Generally speaking, for commercial cracker production, high-
had lower P and P/L values, higher W and L values which were
quality saltine cracker flour requires relatively high gluten
preferred for a better cracker-baking quality. Nevertheless, the
strength, within the class of soft wheat, and low water absorption
alveograph parameters of 100 g/100 g SWWW flour showed very
capacity (Kweon et al., 2011b). Thus, flours with higher LA-SRC,
different results from the “gold standard”.
lower water SRC, SC-SRC, and Suc-SRC values were preferred for
The higher level of P-value (63 mm) was caused by the high level
superior quality of commercial crackers for puffing and bubbling
of water-absorbing components (arabinoxylans and damaged
(Slade et al., 1994). Also the GPI was shown to have a better cor-
starch) in the whole-wheat flour and the dough was too firm to
relation with the cracker-baking performance. Cracker flour with a
expand. Preston, Kilborn, and Dexter (1987) reported that the
GPI <0.52 produced unacceptable performance and excessive
starch damage was positively correlated with P, L, W, and P/L of
blistering during baking (Kweon et al., 2011b).
Canadian hard red spring wheat doughs. The lower level of L-value
(21 mm) and W-value (54 mm) was due to the weak gluten strength
3.3. Effect of whole-wheat flour on alveograph parameters of
of the whole-wheat flour. Moreover, the P/L ratio (3.00) of 100 g/
whole-wheat flour blends
100 g whole-wheat flour was much higher than that of the control
flour blend (P/L ¼ 0.32), which indicated that there was a lack of
The alveograph parameters (Fig. 3) showed that the P-value and
balance between elasticity and extensibility for the whole-wheat
P/L ratio had positive correlations with the percentage of SWWW
cracker dough to retain gas for expansion during fermentation
flour; however the L and W values had a negative correlation with
and baking as measured by the alveograph.
the amount of SWWW flour.
The “gold standard” of alveograph parameters for ideal-quality
refined white cracker flour is P ¼ 35  5, L ¼ 100  10, and 3.4. Effect of whole-wheat flour on rheometer parameters of whole-
W ¼ 90  15. If P-value is too low (<30) or too high (>40), the flour wheat flour blends
would be too soft to form proper blistering on crackers or too hard
for crackers to spread enough, respectively. W-value should not be The increased level of whole-wheat flour had a destructive ef-
too low (<75) or too high (>105). If the gluten strength is too weak, fect on the formation of gluten network. Development of gluten in
gas cells coalesce and gas is released prematurely; if gluten is too cracker dough during mixing and sheeting was a critical factor of
48 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50
affecting the cracker quality (Kweon et al., 2011a). In the frequency
sweep test, the G0 (storage modulus) of whole-wheat dough
reduced with the addition level of SWWW flour, which indicated
that the elasticity of whole-wheat cracker dough was restrained.
The high water absorbent-capacity of wheat bran competes for
water with the gluten network and starch granule in whole-wheat
dough system, which inhibited sufficient water absorption and
formation of gluten network (Rosell et al., 2010). The AX is the main
component of wheat bran, and it shows the ability of sequestrating
water and restricting the formation of gluten network in whole-
wheat bread dough (Li et al., 2012). However, the G0 -value
increased again as the SWWW flour content exceeded 50 g/100 g;
the flour blend with 75 g/100 g SWWW had the highest G0 (Fig. 4a),
which may be related to the highest protein content of this blend
(Table 2). This result indicated that the G0 was more affected by the
protein content of flour blend than by the shearing action of wheat
bran in the frequency sweep test. G0 represents the dynamic elas-
ticity and G00 represents the dynamic viscous property. As shown in
Fig. 4, the G0 values were larger than the G00 values, indicating that
the dough was more elastic than viscous. However, the high-level
Fig. 4. Effects of soft white whole-wheat (SWWW) flour on the rheological properties
(a. G0 : storage modulus; b. G00 : loss modulus) in the frequency sweep test of whole-
wheat cracker dough blended with (-) 0 g/100 g SWWW flour (SWWW); (C) 25 g/
100 g SWWW; (:) 50 g/100 g SWWW; (;) 75 g/100 g SWWW; (A) 100 g/100 g
SWWW.
G0 (which was correlated with the protein content) did not result
in strong elasticity of dough and full formation of gluten network,
which may be caused by the high water absorption of wheat bran in
whole-wheat dough system. Thus, the preferable baking quality of
whole-wheat products cannot be demonstrated by the high-level
G0 -value.
The rheological properties of flours have been reported to
depend on starch granular structure, amylose to amylopectin ratio,
and the presence of phosphate esters (Singh & Singh, 2001). The
presence of large starch granules in wheat flour is likely responsible
for high G0 and G00 values (Kaur, Singh, & Sodhi, 2002). However, the
starch content and its granular size were diluted and sheared by the
increased level of wheat bran in whole-wheat flour (Li et al., 2012).
Therefore, the result of G00 of cracker dough reduced with the
increasing SWWW flour content (Fig. 4b) may be caused by the
smaller granular size and shape of the native starches in the system.
In addition, the reduced G00 -value of whole-wheat dough indicated
that the G00 was less to do with the flour protein content and more
to do with the bran content in the frequency sweep test. High G00 -
value may be beneficial to the quality of whole-wheat products.
3.5. Water competition and migration
To demonstrate the water migration and competitive water
sequestration between the AX matrix and gluten network in
whole-wheat cracker flour system, the T2 relaxation time of whole-
wheat flour blends were determined by NMR. T2 relaxation time
typical curve of wheat dough (Fig. 5) includes three peaks: T21
(01 ms), T22 (1100 ms), and T23 (1001000 ms), which represent,
tightly, less tightly, and weakly bound water, respectively
(Lu & Seetharaman, 2013). X-axis in T2 relaxation time curve rep-
resents the water activity of food material. A shorter T2 relaxation
time indicates a lower degree of water freedom. Y-axis in T2
relaxation time curve represents the signal amplitude of protons.
Peak area of T2 curve represents the relative content of hydrogen
protons (moisture content) absorbed by hydrophilic components.
The peak T21 in T2 relaxation time curve represented the water
absorbed by the AX matrix and starch. The AX has a strong binding
capacity for water due to its polysaccharide structure (Izydorczyk &
Biliaderis, 1995). The peak T22 represented the water absorbed by
the gluten network. The gluten has a high-amount water absorp-
tion capacity caused by its porous framework (Li et al., 2012). The
Fig. 5. T2 relaxation time distribution of whole-wheat cracker flour blends with five
different levels of soft white whole-wheat (SWWW) flour: d Control: 0 g/100 g; :
25 g/100 g; : 50 g/100 g; : 75 g/100 g; : 100 g/100 g.
 J. Li et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 55 (2014) 43e50 49

Table 5 significant correlation with the whole-wheat cracker quality pa-

T2 relaxation time distribution of whole-wheat flour blend with different percent- rameters and therefore, was ineffective in predicting the protein
ages of soft white whole-wheat flour.
functionality in whole-wheat products (Bettge, Morris, DeMacon, &
Amount of Peak ratiob Kidwell, 2002). If such a prediction is desired, SDS-Sedimentation
SWWW (g/100 g)a may work better on whole-wheat flour for functional protein pre-
T21 T22 T23
diction. P-value may not be a good indicator of dough strength in
0 0.0446  0.0011 0.9355  0.0031 0.0199  0.0002
25 0.0458  0.0016 0.9344  0.0028 0.0198  0.0001 the whole-wheat dough system since the dough was measured at a
50 0.0621  0.0013 0.9180  0.0025 0.0199  0.0001 constant 50 g/100 g water absorption; the addition of SWWW
75 0.0751  0.0015 0.9049  0.0030 0.0200  0.0002 made the dough drier and artificially increased P-value. Also, this
100 0.0844  0.0018 0.8954  0.0027 0.0202  0.0002
was partly due to the competitive water absorption by wheat bran
a
Abbreviations as in Table 1. and the physical disruption to the gluten matrix, as discussed
b
Percentage of each peak area in total areas (T21, T22, and T23). earlier in the Introduction. Both alveograph L and W values were
positively correlated with the quality parameters of the end prod-
results (Table 5) show that the peak area ratio of T21 (Area T21/Area uct, suggesting that the alveograph may be a useful tool to predict
[T21 þ T22 þ T23]) had a positive correlation (r ¼ 0.994; P < 0.05) the end-use quality of whole-wheat cracker flour blends. The
with the increased level of SWWW flour (0 g/100 g, 25 g/100 g, gluten index also showed significant positive correlations with the
50 g/100 g, 75 g/100 g, 100 g/100 g). A negative correlation quality attributes of whole-wheat cracker. Whole-wheat flour
(r ¼ 0.998; P < 0.05) was found between the peak area ratio of T22 blends of higher gluten index values yielded greater stack height,
(Area T22/Area [T21 þ T22 þ T23]) and the addition level of SWWW specific volume, and breaking strength of the end products. Thus,
flour. The peak area ratio of T23 did not change significantly. These the gluten index may also be useful in predicting the performance
results indicated that the water migrated from the gluten network of whole-wheat cracker flour and end-product quality.
into the AX matrix in whole-wheat cracker dough system, and
inhibited the water absorption of gluten to form the network 4. Conclusions
structure to maintain its gas-retention ability. Thus, the bubbles
and puffy internal structure of whole-wheat crackers were The rheological behaviours of whole-wheat flour blends were
restrained due to the weak gas-retention capacity of whole-wheat greatly affected by the addition level of SWWW flour. The G0 -value
dough, resulting in inferior baking quality of end products. Mean- appeared to be affected more by the protein content than by the
while, the peak T21 shifted to the left, suggesting that the water shearing action of wheat bran in whole-wheat dough system, and
holding capacity of AX was enhanced with the increased level of G00 -value was more affected by the bran content. High water ab-
whole-wheat flour. sorption capacity of whole-wheat flour had a detrimental effect on
the quality attributes (especially oven spring) of whole-wheat
3.6. Correlation analysis saltine crackers. The competition for water by AX from gluten
matrix in whole-wheat dough system restricted the proper for-
In this research, the W-SRC was significantly correlated with mation of gluten network, which reduced its gas-retention capa-
alveograph values. W-SRC had a positive correlation with the P- bility. Alveograph parameters, SRC values, and gluten index
value (r ¼ 0.98, P < 0.01) and was negatively correlated with the L- appeared to be useful tools to predict the saltine cracker-baking
value (r ¼ 0.99, P < 0.01) and the W-value (r ¼ 0.99, P < 0.01). performance of the whole-wheat flour and end-product quality.
The P/L ratio was positively correlated with the W-SRC (r ¼ 0.92,
P < 0.05). P-value was positively correlated with SC-SRC (r ¼ 0.99, Acknowledgement
P < 0.01) and Suc-SRC values (r ¼ 0.98, P < 0.01); both L and W
values had a significant negative correlation with SC-SRC and Suc- We acknowledge the Shanghai Niumag Electronics Technology
SRC values. The P/L ratio was positively correlated with SC-SRC Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China) for technical assistance.
(r ¼ 0.93, P < 0.05) and Suc-SRC (r ¼ 0.92, P < 0.05). LA-SRC and
GPI were independent of all alveograph parameters. References
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