Measures of the breadmaking quality of wheat

Abstract

In the UK the most commonly used rapid test for breadmaking quality in wheat is the sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) sedimentation test. Other EC countries normally use the Zeleny sedimentation or Chopin Alveograph tests, and these have entered into Intervention (Zeleny only) and export specifications. The aim of this work was to compare the performance of the three tests and investigate the relationships between them.

The intercorrelations between the three tests were all found to be high, although the relationships were not sufficiently precise to permit the calculation of one test result from another. All three tests were of value for identifying wheats of breadmaking quality, and all three were useful for predicting the loaf volumes obtained in test bakes, the SDS test giving the best correlations with loaf volumes. Blending experiments confirmed that SDS and Zeleny results were approximately additive (i.e. could be calculated by linear interpolation) in wheat blends, but unpredictable results were obtained with the Alveograph W value. There was little change in the results of either sedimentation test when wheats were stored at ambient temperature for several months, but Alveograph W values tended to increase.