Development of a benchtop baking method for chemically leavened crackers Meera Kweon, Louise Slade*, Harry Levine*, and Edward Souza USDA, ARS, Soft Wheat Quality Lab., Wooster, OH, USA * Food Polymer Science Consultancy, Morris Plains, NJ, USA Comparison of ingredients Ingredient Cookie Cracker Sucrose high low Fat high low Water low low unchlorinated unchlorinated Flour (requires gluten 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 flours 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 Salt 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 wheats did not generate damaged starch during milling, so alpha-amylase was not needed. Effect of enzyme treatment on 0.25 cracker baking 0.20 w/o enzyme 1X 1A 0.5X + 0.5A 0.15 0.10 * Blisters 0.05 * Cracker Height/Dough Weight (cm/g) * * 0.00 D 8006W Caledonia Crystal Jewel GA96603-4E06 Jamestown AGS 2000 Sample USG 3209 Jensen MPV 57 * 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 2007 QEC flours The accountedgluten for the performance ratio of cracker ratio height to dough weight, but gluten functionality 0.20 , SRC LA/(SC+Suc) 0.18alone, individual 0.16 , SRC LA 0.14 , did not. 0.12 0.10 Cracker Ht. /Dough wt (cm/g) 0.08 0.8 Blisters 0.7 0.6 LA/(SC+Suc) ? 0.5 120 LA/(SC+Suc) 0.4 100 LA SRC D 8006W Caledonia 80 Crystal Jewel GA96603-4E06 60 Jamestown AGS 2000 LA SRC (%) USG 3209 Jensen 40 MPV 57 Cracker baking with 2008 QEC flours accountedThe for the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but gluten performance ratio gluten functionality 0.20 0.18 0.16 alone, individual , 0.14 SRC LA/(SC+Suc) 0.12 0.10 SRC LA Cracker Ht./Dough Wt. (cm/g) , 0.08 , did not. 0.8 0.7 0.6 LA/(SC+Suc) 0.5 0.4 Blisters ? MO 11126 Coral (E2017) 120 VA01W-205 VA03W-434 Ambassador (E0028) Hopewell 100 D8006W Pur 02444A1-23-9 Amber (D8006R) 80 Pur 99600A2-4-32 W 1377 Pur 04287A1-10 Envoy (E1009) 60 Pioneer XW 06M USG 3209 LA SRC (%) Pur 03112A1-7-3 VA03W-409 40 Bess 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!.