Evaluation of visco‐elastic properties of conditioned wheat kernels and their doughs using a compression test under small strain

BACKGROUND The aim of this research was to evaluate the visco‐elastic properties of conditioned wheat kernels and their doughs by applying the compression test under a small strain. Conditioned wheat kernels and their doughs, from soft and hard wheat classes were evaluated for total work (W t ), elastic work (W e ) and plastic work (W p ). RESULTS Soft wheat kernels showed lower W e than W p , while the hard wheat kernels had a W e that was higher than W p . Regarding dough visco‐elasticity, cultivars from soft and hard wheat showed higher W p than W e . The degree of elasticity ( DE %) of the conditioned wheat kernel related to its dough decreased ∼46% in both wheat classes. The W t , W e and W p from the soft wheat kernel and dough correlated with physico‐chemical and farinographic flour tests. The W t , W p and the maximum compression force (F max ) of the dough from hard wheat class presented highly significant negative correlations with wet gluten. CONCLUSION The visco‐elasticity parameters from compression test presented significant differences among conditioned wheat classes and their doughs.