Effects of wheat millstream refinement on flour colour, dough rheology, and protein composition

The wheat kernel is highly heterogeneous in structure and composition. Wheat milling has adapted to this heterogeneity over time, and has evolved to optimize the transformation of wheat into different types of flour for bread and a very wide array of other foods. To accomplish this, wheat milling generates millstreams that can vary widely in refinement (bran content), protein and pentosan content, and overall functionality that can significantly impact the processing properties of dough or batter, along with the visual appeal of end products and their nutritional value. Knowledge and understanding of millstream composition is a very important consideration enabling millers to optimize the quality of flour blends for different products and customers. Good knowledge is available on millstream colour, protein content and general dough mixing properties as a function of flour refinement. However, very little is known about the protein composition of specific millstreams and how that protein composition relates to breadmaking quality. Also, while the relationship between instrumentally determined flour colour and flour refinement or ash content appears to be well understood, that knowledge is based on limited colour wavelength data provided by filter-based instruments.; This thesis research project investigated inter-relationships among spectrophotometrically determined colour, dough rheology and protein composition of millstreams of eight red and white hard spring wheat samples comprising six western Canadian cultivars including two grown in two different locations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...