Production-related variation in wheat flour affects mixing and starch-pasting behaviour

Commercial wheat flours produced from the same grain type and with similar quality characteristics can differ in processing performance, but how production-related variation is expressed across individual stages of dough development remains unclear. We hypothesized that these differences translate into distinct phase-specific changes in dough thermo-mechanical behaviour. We compared commercial flours produced from common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) harvested in Uzbekistan and obtained from six industrial milling companies. Each flour was characterised using conventional physicochemical and technological measurements together with complete Mixolab thermo-mechanical profiling. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified production-related differences and explored relationships between conventional flour characteristics and Mixolab responses. The largest differences were observed for the gluten deformation index, falling number, mechanical starch damage and gas-production capacity. Water absorption ranged from 54.9 to 60.0%, while cooling setback varied from 1.114 to 2.092 N·m. Mechanical starch damage was associated with dough development time, the gluten deformation index with the protein-weakening slope, and falling number with hot-paste torque retention. Principal component analysis showed distinct producer profiles and coordinated trade-offs among mixing performance, starch gelatinisation, paste stability and cooling behaviour rather than a single overall quality gradient. Together, these findings show that production-related variation is expressed across specific processing phases and that combining conventional measurements with phase-resolved Mixolab profiling improves the functional characterisation of commercial flours, although validation against end-use performance remains necessary.

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