By Rabia Tiryaki, MSc, Bastak Instruments
Wheat, which is the most consumed nutrient from grain products, has maintained its indispensable place and importance in human nutrition for ages as a strategic product. Cereal products, which are one of the most indispensable basic needs of people living their lives in all developed and developing countries, meet a large part of the daily energy required by the human body. On the other hand, wheat and flour production activities have once again demonstrated the economic value of the flour industry and the need of countries for food security with the food crisis that began in 2007 and the ongoing global economic crisis that began in 2008.
One of the most internationally traded agricultural products in history, wheat and wheat flour or semolina produced from the chemical and physicochemical properties that are sought at the beginning of the amount of water, ash, protein, gluten, gluten index, Zeleny sedimentation, starch and starch damage.
The amount of starch, the main component found in the highest proportion of wheat flour, has a very significant effect on baked goods. Starch forms the dough structure by interacting with other components in the dough content. Water absorption, which is one of the important functional parameters of starch, affects the quality and texture of baked goods. Intact starch granules have the ability to absorb about 0.33 times their weight in water, while damaged starch granules can absorb as much water as their own weight.
Starch grains are found in a Decently and regularly arranged structure between protein networks in the endosperm. But at the stage of grinding wheat, they completely or partially lose their structure. The resulting flour contains damaged starch along with undamaged starch granules in different proportions. The amount and texture of the damaged starch varies depending on the grinding system and the adjustment of the waltzes.
The amount of starch damage has become an important quality parameter that is of interest to all sectors based on the production of grain products, especially in recent years. After the inevitable effect of starch damage on the final product was revealed, it became a routine analysis in many bread production industries and grain quality control laboratories.
In order to obtain a dough with the appropriate consistency, the absorption of flours containing excessively damaged starch should be reduced. Excessive starch damage reduces the volume of bread, affects the quality of bread by disrupting the properties of the inside of the bread. For good bread making, the flour to be used must contain a certain level of damaged starch. An excessive increase in this ratio reduces the ability to retain gas when there is not enough gluten to cover the excess surface area that occurs, which negatively affects the fermentation process.
For the pasta industry, the amount of damaged starch has an important place in the quality parameters. Starches damaged during pasta making serve as substrates for amylase. By breaking down, they increase the amount of substance that passes into the cooking water and cause turbidity. Semolina, which is a grinding product with low starch damage, is preferred in the pasta sector.
For the biscuit industry; soft grain structure, lower protein and higher starch ratio constitute the appropriate quality feature. The amount of starch damage affects the breakage rate of biscuits. Semolina and flour, grinding products with low starch damage, are used in the biscuit sector.
The amount of damaged starch has a direct relationship with enzyme activity. The alpha and beta amylase enzymes contained in wheat can only break down starch in a damaged state. Considering that different products in wheat business are obtained by using different properties of wheat fractions in different ways, it is essential to determine the optimal damaged starch property in order to produce the product under optimal conditions.
Quality parameters for millers who process wheat first, considering the high flour yield and grinding quality, it is necessary to keep the distance settings of the waltz used in flour production, the amount of damaged starch that will constantly change from factors such as various patch ratio, annealing amount, annealing time, aging of the waltz, heating of the waltz, waltz cycles, sample flow amount, etc. During production, by constantly testing and controlling the amount of starch used in the raw material during production.
Instead of long and difficult analyses to determine the damaged starch value, Bastak 15000 SDCheq analyzes the amount of iodine absorbed by starch granules with a very small amount (1 g) of sample using the electrochemical amperometric method. Dough fermentation conditions, dough water removal amount, dough rheological properties, dough baking performance, aroma formation of final products, standard flour production, biscuit breakage rate, prevention of aging of waltzes can be determined.
Bastak 15000 SDCheq performs the analysis in five stages. At the first stage, the analysis solution is automatically brought to the world standard temperature of 35°C. In the second stage, the iodine amount of the analysis solution is measured and the solution color begins to turn from transparent to yellow. In the third stage, the analysis sample is poured automatically. In the fourth stage, the amount of iodine absorbed by the starch granules is measured, and the solution acquires a black color. At the last stage, the damaged starch value is displayed on the high-resolution touch screen as %AI in terms of current and other special units (UCD, UCDc and Farrand). The SDCheq device, which has the ability to automatically calibrate and clean itself before each test, is AACC 76-33, ICC No.172 complies with AFNOR V03-731 standards.
