Development of a benchtop method for chemically leavened crackers

Meera Kweon, Louise Slade*, Harry Levine*, and Edward Souza

USDA, ARS, Soft Quality Lab., Wooster, OH, USA * Food Polymer Science Consultancy, Morris Plains, NJ, USA Comparison of ingredients

Ingredient Cracker Sucrose high low Fat high low Water low low

unchlorinated unchlorinated (requires strength) TS high low %S very high low Objective

Develop a benchtop baking method to predict contribution of gluten functionality and performance to overall flour performance for chemically leavened crackers What are the hurdles in developing a cracker-baking method?

„ Difficulty to find ideal diagnostic that differ only in gluten functionality (same SRC values, except SRC-LA)

„ Absence of a powerful benchtop mixer, like a commercial plant-scale cracker mixer, to enable gluten development with low TS and %S formulas.

„ Absence of a powerful 2-4 roll sheeter and reduction system to enable gluten development during machining.

„ Absence of a suitable two-zone benchtop oven. In spite of the hurdles, if we want to develop a cracker-baking method, what will be the criteria?

„ The method should be simple and user-friendly.

„ The method should be reliable, in terms of reproducibility and accuracy.

„ The method should be diagnostic for gluten functionality of flour samples. Equipment used for experiments

Mixer: Pin mixer with 100g mixing bowl

Oven: Standard National lab baking oven

Univex sheeter Baking rack

Hand cutter (2.25 x 1.65 inch, 7 docker pins) Basic ingredients and formula

Ingredient Formula (g) Flour 100.0 FG Sugar 9 0.75 Sodium bicarbonate 1.25 Ammonium bicarbonate 1.25 Monocalcium phosphate 1.25 Shortening 12.0 Water 29.0 TS 38 % S 23.7 Cracker-making procedure

Pre-dissolved sugar Ammonium bicarbonate Shortening

Ingredient mixing (1 min)

Remaining ingredients

Dough mixing (10 min)

Dough sheeting - 5 times, roll gap from 5.59 to 0.54mm, w/o folding and rotation of sheet between passes

Dough cutting Measuring dough weight

*Calculated parameters: Baking (5-6 min at 500 F) cracker height/dough weight & cracker width/length Measuring cracker width, length, and height Effect of leavening agents

Soda: 0 MCP: 0 ABC: 0

Soda: 1.25 Soda: 0 Soda: 0 MCP: 0 MCP: 1.25 MCP: 0 ABC: 0 ABC: 0 ABC: 1.25 Effect of ammonium bicarbonate Branson SRW SG FL: 23.7%S, 38 TS, 10-min mixing Soda 1.25 g & MCP 1.25 g

0.00 0.625 1.25

ABC Dough/piece Moisture Cracker/piece loss (g) Weight Height Weight Length Width Height 0 3.85 0.172 25.96 2.85 5.23 4.17 0.355 0.625 3.75 0.172 27.03 2.74 5.20 4.26 0.398 1.25 3.87 0.172 27.38 2.81 5.17 4.25 0.448 Flour used for developing the formula and procedure

SRC Flour Water LA SC Suc

Branson 46.9 94.8 60.7 86.9

Gluten performance ratio: SRC LA/(SC+Suc) = 0.644 Can we use very low sugar concentration for faster gluten development in a cracker-baking method?

Mixograph

Effect of sucrose on gluten during mixing

(Used with permission from Louise Slade) Cracker geometry at various %S, 38TS

Crackers baked with too much water (lower %S at constant TS) resulted in blisters 0.4 CH/DW 0.9 W/L L ↓ & W ↑

↑ ↑ L ↑ & W ↓ 0.3 L & W 0.8

Cutter W/L 0.7 0.2

0.6 Cracker Width/Length Blisters 0.1 Cracker Height/Dough Weight (cm/g) Weight Cracker Height/Dough Softer dough Crumblier dough 0.5

0 102030405060 Sugar Concentration (%) Cracker geometry at various TS, ≈ 23.7%S

The formula with 23.7%S, 38TS was chosen for testing various flours

0.35 1.0 = Round Cracker

0.30 L ↑ & W ↓ 0.9

0.25 0.8

0.20 Cutter W/L 0.7 0.15 Cracker Width/Length

0.6 0.10

Cracker Height./Dough Weight (cm/g) Weight Cracker Height./Dough Crumblier dough Softer dough

0.05 0.5 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 Total Solvent Rheological test for 2007 QEC flour (Used Kieffer Rig with TAXT)

Evaluate extent of gluten development during mixing and machining - Force/Distance of dough in the direction of sheeting was related to both cracker height/dough weight and cracker width/length.

0.20 0.88 Samples w/o blisters 0.120

0.18 0.115 0.86

0.110

0.16 0.105

Cracker Height/Dough Weight 0.100 0.84

0.095 0.14 0 5 10 15 20 Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig 0.82 0.12 Cracker Width/LengthCracker

Cracker Height/Dough Weight 0.80 0.10 Dough Sheeting direction Perpendicular sheeting 0.08 0.78 0 2 4 6 8 101214161820 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig Effect of enzyme treatment on water SRC

Used xylanase (X) and alpha-amylase (A)

Cultivar w/o enz. 1X 1A 0.5X + 0.5A D8006W 48.5 44.9 48.5 46.8 Caledonia 47.1 43.9 47.0 45.6 Crystal 47.2 44.8 47.1 46.1 Jewel 51.1 47.7 51.1 49.3 GA96603-4E16 49.2 46.3 49.5 47.9 Jamestown 51.9 46.9 51.6 49.3 AGS 2000 52.4 46.7 52.0 49.1 USG 3209 55.8 48.6 55.9 51.8 Jensen 48.7 44.9 48.8 47.0 MPV 57 47.9 43.3 48.0 45.5

These very soft did not generate damaged starch during milling, so alpha-amylase was not needed. Effect of enzyme treatment on cracker baking

0.25 w/o enzyme * Blisters 1X 1A * 0.20 0.5X + 0.5A * 0.15 *

0.10

0.05 Cracker Height/Dough Weight (cm/g)

0.00 W ia al el 6 n 0 9 n 7 06 on st ew E0 tow 00 20 se V 5 80 led Cry J 3-4 es S 2 3 Jen P D a 60 m G SG M C 96 Ja A U GA Sample * Indicates too much water, when arabinoxylans have been depolymerized. Reduction in water and sucrose is typically required. Reduction of blisters by baking crackers with flour blend (GA 96603-4E16:MPV 57=1:1)

GA 96603-4E16 GA+MPV MPV 57

Photos show L dimension

Flour SRC LA/ Cracker Water LA SC Suc (SC+Suc) CH/DW W/L1 GA 96603- 49.2 105.9 64.4 96.0 0.66 0.104 0.817 1G+1M 48.5 89.5 63.5 94.9 0.56 0.1192 0.823 MPV 57 47.9 73.0 62.7 93.8 0.47 0.1942 0.790 Notes: 1 Cutter W/L was 0.73. 2 Crackers with blisters. But, the crackers with flour blend showed much smaller and fewer blisters. The effect of mixing time on blisters (MPV 57)

5 min 10 min

15 min 20 min Cracker baking with 2007QECflours accounted for the ratio of crackerheight to doughweight, of ratio the accounted for but

LA/(SC+Suc) Cracker Ht. /Dough wt (cm/g) gluten functionalityalone,individual 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 The 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

D 8

0 gluten performanceratio 0 6 C W a

l LA SRC LA/(SC+Suc) e d o n i a

C r y s ta

l G

A J 9 e 6 w 6 e 0 l 3 - 4 E J a 0

m 6 ?

e s to

A w G n , S

2 , SRC LA/(SC+Suc)

0 U 0 S 0 G

3

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0 SRC LA 9

J e n s e n M

P V , didnot. 5

7 Blisters 40 60 80 100 120

LA SRC (%) Cracker baking with 2008QECflours accounted for the ratio of crackerheight to doughweight, of ratio the accounted for but

LA/(SC+Suc) Cracker Ht./Dough Wt. (cm/g) gluten functionalityalone,individual 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 The M 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 C O o r 1 a 1 l 1 ( gluten performanceratio V E2 2 A A0 6 m 0 b 1 1 a VA0 W 7 s ) s - a 2 3 0 d W o 5 r - 4 ( E 3 0 4 H 0 P o 2 u p 8 r ) e 0 D w 2 A 4 8 e m 4 0 ll 4 0 P b 6 e A u 1 W r r ( - 9 D 2 9 3 6 8 - 0 0 9 0 0 A 6 R Pu 2 - ) 4 r - 0 W 3 4 2 En 2 1

8 3 , Pi v 7 7

o A1 7 , SRC LA/(SC+Suc) o y n ( - e E1 1 e 0 r 0 X 0 P W 9

u U ) ? r 0

S SRC LA 0 6 3 G M 1 3 1 2 2 V 0 A 9 A0 1 - 3 7 - W 3 - 4 0 , didnot. 9 Be

s s Blisters 40 60 80 100 120

LA SRC (%) Conclusions

• Based on preliminary investigation of the effects of total solvent and sugar concentration, 38TS and 23.7%S were selected as a diagnostic formula to distinguish differences in gluten functionality or performance and overall flour performance for chemically leavened crackers. • The gluten performance ratio of SRC LA/(SC + Suc) was a better predictor of cracker geometry than the individual gluten functionality value of LA SRC alone. Flours with a gluten performance ratio smaller than 0.52 resulted in blistering. • Use of alpha-amylase and xylanase demonstrated the effect of enzymes on improved cracker-baking performance, as a result of decreased crumbliness of dough and increased height of cracker. • Cracker-dough rheology (Force/Distance) in the direction of sheeting showed a negative relationship with the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but a positive relationship with the ratio of cracker width to length. Acknowledgements

„ Ron Martin „ Tom Donelson „ Scott Beil THANK YOU! THANK YOU!