Effect of Wheat Bran Particle Size on Dough Rheological Properties

Commercial hard red spring, hard red winter, soft white and durum wheat brans were used to investigate the effect of wheat bran particle size on the rheological properties of doughs. Wheat brans were first coarsely ground and passed through a bran finisher to remove additional endosperm and aleurone layers. These processes increased total dietary fibre content and decreased starch content of the wheat bran samples. Three particle size distributions, for each wheat bran class, were obtained by further grinding (not by sifting) of the bran samples by different experimental mills. Coarse bran can retain significantly more water than medium or fine bran as measured by a centrifuge method, but bran particle size had no significant effect on dough water absorption. Addition of wheat bran into bread dough systems increased dough water absorption rate, reduced mixing time and decreased dough mixing tolerance as measured by farinograph. Fine particle size wheat bran decreased dough mixing tolerance and reduced mixing time compared to coarse bran. Dough containing fine particle size bran exhibited more strength than dough containing coarse bran after a 180-min rest period as measured by the extensigraph. © 1997 SCI.