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Title: Non-Starch Polysaccharides in Wheat Flour Wire-Cut Cookie Making

Author
item GUTTIERI, MARY - OSU
item Souza, Edward
item SNELLER, CLAY - OSU

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/5/2008
Publication Date: 11/26/2008
Citation: Guttieri, M.J., Souza, E.J., Sneller, C. 2008. Non-Starch Polysaccharides in Wheat Flour Wire-Cut Cookie Making. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 56(22):10927-10932.

Interpretive Summary: The paper describes the measurement of arabinoxylans (components of cell walls) that are present in flour. The composition of arabinoxylans predicts the quality of the flour for making commercial cookies. Previous studies of arabinoxylans in flour have been used to predict bread quality. This is the first study to compare arabinoxylan structure to the prediction of bake quality using a cookie formula that matches commercial baking formulas. The information is a refinement of the information provided by a standard flour evaluation method, the sucrose solvent retention capacity (SRC) test. This paper explains both the reason for the predictive functionality of the sucrose SRC and its limitations as a diagnostic test. This manuscript will be of primary interest to the biscuit and cracker manufacturing industry.

Technical Abstract: Non-starch polysaccharides in wheat flour have significant capacity to affect the processing quality of dough and the finished quality of wheat products. Most research has focused on the effects of arabinoxylans (AX) in bread making. We found that water-extractable arabinoxylan and arabinogalactan peptides can predict variation in pastry wheat quality as captured by the wire-cut cookie model system. The sum of water extractable arabinoxylan plus arabinogalactan peptide, as represented by the hydrolyzed monosaccharides, was highly predictive of cookie geometry. The combination of cookie geometry and the ratio of water extractable arabinose to xylose predicted cookie texture.