WHEAT RESEARCH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 183, 4 July 1936, Page 14

WHEAT RESEARCH.

QUALITY OF FLOUR

The flour section of the Wheat Committee, in the course of a circular, states :

As all bakers are aware, the nature of the wheat grown in any country will vary from season to season. The wheat grown in New Zealand this year is somewhat higher in cliastatic activity than usual, and in this respect resembles that of 1932. The function of diastase in flour is to convert some of the starch into maltose (a sugar) which in turn is converted by the agency of yeast into gas which causes the dough to rise. Borne of the flour milled during the last three years has been somewhat deficient in diastase, and many bakers to make good this deficiency have got into the habit of using either more sugar, or malt, or malt flour improvers! These, this season, are unnecessary and if used to excess may make the bread difficult to make and inclined to be sticky in the crumb. If this should happen, nothing is to be gained by leaving the loaves in the oven after they are baked, but if the crust is taking colour too freely the oven should be worked a little cooler, and the batch given the full time. Malt in any form should be rigorously excluded from the dough, and sugar, golden syrup, or improvers containing them be either cut out or used very sparingly. Too much fat should not be used in the doughs, but extra salt will be found beneficial. Just as it is good baking practice when working short process doughs «o use extra sugar, so when the flour unavoidably contains extra sugar in the form of maltose, it is advisable to work short doughs, rather than long—without, of course, adding any extra sugar. The reason for this is that, whilst the extra yeast in a short dough converts more sugar into gas, the diastase has less time in which to convert starch into sugar. The extra yeast in a short process dough therefore serves the double purpose of stimulating sugar consumption and curtailing its production. . The Wheat Research Institute has lately appointed an officer in Mr H. R. Hansen, of Auckland, whose duty it will be to collaborate with bakers throughout the Dominion regarding flour and bread problems.