Experiments on dough rheology to improve screening of bread wheat cultivars

The bread‐making potential of flour may be roughly estimated by dough rheology, especially its tolerance to over‐mixing as determined with the farinograph. The objective of this study was to identify the relative effects of experimental conditions likely to affect dough mixing stability: mixer speed, temperature, salt, yeast and bread additives such as ascorbic acid and preservatives. The addition of 1–2% salt or ascorbic acid (50 mg kg^?1 flour) improved dough mixing stability and counteracted the negative effect of bread preservatives. Mixing salted dough at slow speed (63 rpm) and 25 °C might be a more realistic bread‐making procedure for performing dough rheology assays with equipment such as the farinograph, compared to official methods (only flour and water, no salt; 30 °C). Amongst five bread wheat cultivars, differences existed in dough strengthening response to both salt and ascorbic acid, a property that may find application in wheat breeding and screening.