Dough Functional Properties and Bread Quality of Stone-Milled Refined Flours in Comparison to Traditional HRS Wheat Flours

While traditional flours, such as roller-milled refined flour (RRF) and stone-milled whole-wheat flour (SWF), are subject to a trade-off between nutritional value and sensory quality, stone-milled refined flour (SRF) offers a balanced composition. Nevertheless, the functionality and baking performance of dough depend on complex macromolecular interactions beyond composition alone. Using three hard red spring (HRS) wheat varieties, this study compares the protein and starch functionality, dough rheology, and bread quality associated with SRF compared to RRF, SWF, and roller-milled whole-wheat flour (RWF). Stronger gluten formation in SRF compared to RRF was evident from its higher maximum torque (62.83 GPU) and gluten aggregation energy (1681.7 GPU) in the Glutopeak analysis. Using a Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA), lower peak viscosity (1725.25 RVU) and higher pasting temperature (89.4 °C) were observed for SRF. It also exhibited higher water absorption (68.93%) than RRF (65.98%), although their dough stability and mixing tolerance were similar. While RRF produced the highest specific bread volume (6.74 cc/g) and softest crumb (2147.13 mN), SRF achieved an intermediate volume (5.51 cc/g) with a 26.4% improvement over SWF. The correlation analysis results indicated that specific volume is positively associated with gluten aggregation parameters and negatively correlated with crumb firmness, confirming that bread quality is primarily governed by gluten structure. Overall, the use of SRF resulted in balanced dough properties and bread quality, making it a viable, nutritionally enriched alternative for both artisanal and commercial baking.