To predict the achievable product volume with respect to the gas retention capacity of the gluten matrix in wheat flour doughs, strain hardening evaluation is crucial. But assessing these structure hardening phenomena in wheat flour dough systems is still a challenging task. In this work, a simple shear method applied to kneaded dough samples was tested and compared to biaxial extension tests performed with a lubricated squeezing flow method. The comparability of shear-induced structure hardening with biaxial extension tests was shown. Structure hardening and breakdown after overload were visualized using shear flow and a comparison of the obtained shear flow over Hencky strain curve peaks. To predict the behavior of the analyzed flours according to their composition, a correlation analysis of the flour and dough properties was performed. The influence of the HMW glutenin subunits on the sensitivity of the dough matrix according to the applied shear speed (0.1 and 1.0 mm/s) could be shown with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. The LMW glutenin subunits, on the other hand, showed a high correlation coefficient of 0.89 with the achievable network connectivity parameter z [-] gained from frequency sweep testing.
Keywords: baking performance; dough; gluten network; rheology; strain hardening; wheat flour.