The rheological properties of semolina doughs: Influence of the relative amount of ingredients

In the present study, the rheological properties of doughs, prepared by mixing semolina with water, yeast and salt, were investigated with different relative amounts of the ingredients. The rheological measurements were carried out by an Anton Paar MCR 102 rheometer, equipped with a plate-plate fixture. In more detail, frequency sweep tests were performed. Indeed, frequency sweep measurements showed to be informative about the force and extension of the gluten network that, in turn, demonstrated to depend on the relative amount of ingredients. The oscillatory experiments were analyzed by means of the “weak gel model”, whose parameters are directly related to such physical properties. It was found that doughs obtained with different amounts of ingredients showed significant differences in the rheological responses. The addition of yeast led to a significant viscosity and force network decrease, whilst the presence of salt produced an improve of the three-dimensional gluten network characteristics and, consequently, to the machinability of the dough. The study aims at contributing to a more efficient controllability in the industrial production of flour and semolina dough based foods, and in particular to that of “pani carasau”, a typical high quality and valuable Sardinian bread, since this process is high energy consuming (mainly in the baking step), in order to decrease the amount of off-specification products, and so making the processes more energy efficient and sustainable.