Gluten agglomeration in batters as quality characteristic of wheat varieties for wafer making and starch production

Abstract

In the Federal Republic of Germany as well as in other EU-countries the production of varieties for bread making was the main objective in wheat breeding for many years. In recent years, an increasing demand for flours with special functional processing properties and for different uses is recognised. The cereal processing industry tried to overcome the lack of suitable raw material by applying special procedures like the air classification in mills. Therefore, specifications for wheat for different uses are needed. It is, for instance, necessary to find out the specific requirements for the production of unleavened pastries including flat wafers. Another subject is wheat starch production, as the role of wheat as substrate in relation to maíze and potato is becoming more important. A statistic indicates a total of 7.0 million t for the European Union and a 25% share for wheat in 1996. In Germany, the use of wheat achieved a substantial increase from 0.29 million t in 1993 to 0.74 million t in 1996 (Bergthaller et al., 1997; Anonymous, 1998).

Publ. No.: 6969 of the Federal Centre for Cereal, Potato and Lipid Research, Detmold and Münster