Abstract:

Wheat cultivar Shanyou 225 and its blend with Xiaoyan No. 6 (45:55, m/m) were milled using a home-made 4-skin, 3-wick medium-sized flour miller and 7 mill fractions (1B to 4 B and 1M to 3M) were obtained respectively. The 7 mill fractions of wheat cultivar Shanyou 225 and their blend as well as the blend of the 7 mill fractions of wheat cultivar Shanyou 225 blended with Xiaoyan No. 6 were compared for the differences in flour properties and dough rheological properties. Results showed that both protein and wet gluten contents in skin mill fractions were higher than those in wick mill fractions. Skin mill fractions from 1B to 4B exhibited a gradual increase in both indexes; however wick mill fractions from 1M to 3M exhibited an opposite trend. A basically identical trend was observed in dough forming time and stabilizing time and tensile area rather than water absorption rate. 3B mill fraction exhibited the best dough rheological properties. The changes in instant noodle quality and overall score displayed an identical regularity to dough rheological properties. The best and the worst instant noodle quality and overall score were observed in 3B and 1B fractions obtained from skin milling and 1M and 3M fractions obtained from wick milling, respectively. Compared with the blend of 7 mill fractions of single wheat cultivar Shanyou 225, the blend of 7 mill fractions of wheat cultivar Shanyou 225 blended with Xiaoyan No. 6 exhibited an obvious improvement in flour quality and an increase of 5.0 to 6.1 in overall score of instant noodles. The main flour parameters of the blend of 6 of 7 mill fractions of wheat cultivar Shanyou 225 blended with Xiaoyan No. 6 at a blend ratio of 2B/3B/4B/1M/2M/3M of 10.5:8.5:6.5:37.0:23.0:11.0 met or even exceeded the requirements of the relevant national standards.

Key words: strong-gluten wheat, instant noodle flour, formulation, wheat blending