Heating Conditions and Bread‐Making Potential of Substandard Flour

ABSTRACT Heating weak bread flours (commercial cookie flour; commercial stone‐milled bread flour; Fundulea, a weak bread cultivar) at 80°C for 15 min had a positive effect on bread volume ( P < 0.05). This positive effect was best seen when ascorbic acid was removed from bread formulation. Crumb springiness and fineness of grain, but not crumb hardness, were significantly improved after flour heating; cohesiveness improved with heated cookie flour ( P < 0.05). After heating, flour a‐amylase content was lower; dough‐mixing stability of cookie flour doubled to 7.1 min but dropped from 18.0 to 4.8 min with standard bread flour. Heating offers possibility to upgrade substandard flour for bread‐making applications, especially in oxidant‐free dough system.