Application of the Brabender GlutoPeak for quick characterization of waffle flours

Flat waffles are a dry pastry with a porous structure, which is mainly due to evaporating water. Waffles are used for different purposes (rolled or casted ice-cream cones), in layers incorporated in sweets (flat waffle, waffle sticks) or also as waffle sheathing for a chocolate filling (hollow waffle).
Waffle recipes are quite simple and do not need many ingredients, whereas besides water, flour is the main component. Also milk, sugar, salt, baking improver and/or fat may be added. Most waffle-masses are fluid and pumpable. The flour used should be weak, with low protein and wet gluten content, in order to obtain a complete structure of the waffle sheet. The water absorption rate of waffle flours should be low, in order to obtain already with a small water addition a well pumpable dough, which allows for a wide application of water as baking agent (water steam proving).
Within the industrial production the waffle mass is pumped through a tubing system. During that process mechanical energy is imposed into the mass, which leads to a viscosity change if gluten protein is present. The so called gluten aggregation can influence the dosing, and thus leads to the fact that waffle forms are not filled properly, or that the baked product shows unwanted effects like cracks. It is also possible that clots are formed, which lead to a blockage of the dosing dies.
A quick and reliable method for characterizing the most main flour parameters (wet gluten, protein content, and water absorption) is of great importance for the producers of waffle products. The evaluation of flours with a Brabender GlutoPeak, and the GlutoPeak evaluation ”Rapid Flour Check” provide such a method, which implements a quick characterization of flours by mixing a small quantity of flour and water within a controlled environment, in order to analyse and monitor the gluten development within that dough. As an onward development there exists now the “Low Protein Check” (LPC)-method, which is specifically designed for properties of low protein flours.

Within the here mentioned project these GlutoPeak methods were tested, implementing 20 different flour samples. The aim of this test was to check, if these methods give reliable results and offer the same possibilities to obtain information in regards to mixing and baking of waffle products within a short time range, in comparison to standard routine analysis. The flour samples where provided by mills and food manufacturers. The project partners were the companies Bühler AG from Uzwil, Switzerland, as well as the Brabender GmbH & Co. KG, Duisburg, Germany. The baking tests, the planning, realization, and evaluation where carried out at the Bühler/Haas food technical centre, Leobendorf (Austria). There was also the GlutoPeak instrument stationed, which was provided by the company Brabender.