Development of a benchtop baking method

for chemically leavened crackers

Meera Kweon, Louise Slade*, Harry Levine*, and Edward Souza

USDA, ARS, Soft Wheat Quality Lab., Wooster, OH, USA* Food Polymer Science Consultancy, Morris Plains, NJ, USA

Comparison of ingredients

Ingredient Cookie Cracker

Sucrose high low

Fat high low

Water low low

Flour unchlorinated unchlorinated(requires gluten strength)

TS high low

%S very high low

Objective

Develop a benchtop baking method to predict contribution of

gluten functionality and performance to overall flour performance

for chemically leavened crackers

What are the hurdlesin developing a cracker-baking method?

Difficulty to find ideal diagnostic flours that differ only in gluten functionality (same SRC values, except SRC-LA)

Absence of a powerful benchtop mixer, like a commercialplant-scale cracker mixer, to enable gluten development with low TS and %S formulas.

Absence of a powerful 2-4 roll sheeter and reduction systemto enable gluten development during machining.

Absence of a suitable two-zone benchtop oven.

In spite of the hurdles, if we want to develop a cracker-baking method,

what will be the criteria?

The method should be simple and user-friendly.

The method should be reliable, in terms of reproducibility and accuracy.The method should be diagnostic for gluten functionality of flour samples.

Equipment used for experiments

Hand cutter (2.25 x 1.65 inch, 7 docker pins)

Univex sheeterBaking rack

Mixer: Pin mixer with 100g mixing bowl

Oven: Standard National lab baking oven

Basic ingredients and formula

Ingredient Formula (g)Flour 100.0

FG Sugar 9Salt 0.75

Sodium bicarbonate 1.25Ammonium bicarbonate 1.25Monocalcium phosphate 1.25

Shortening 12.0Water 29.0

TS 38% S 23.7

Cracker-making procedure

Remaining ingredients

Ammonium bicarbonatePre-dissolved sugar Shortening

Dough mixing (10 min)

Dough sheeting - 5 times, roll gap from 5.59 to 0.54mm,

w/o folding and rotation of sheet between passes

Dough cutting

Baking (5-6 min at 500 F)

Measuring cracker width, length, and height

Ingredient mixing (1 min)

Measuring dough weight

*Calculated parameters:cracker height/dough weight & cracker width/length

Effect of leavening agents

Soda: 0MCP: 0ABC: 0

Soda: 0MCP: 0ABC: 1.25

Soda: 0MCP: 1.25ABC: 0

Soda: 1.25MCP: 0ABC: 0

Effect of ammonium bicarbonateBranson SRW SG FL: 23.7%S, 38 TS, 10-min mixing

Soda 1.25 g & MCP 1.25 g

Dough/piece Cracker/pieceWeight Height Weight Length Width Height

0 3.85 0.172 25.96 2.85 5.23 4.17 0.3550.625 3.75 0.172 27.03 2.74 5.20 4.26 0.3981.25 3.87 0.172 27.38 2.81 5.17 4.25 0.448

Moistureloss

ABC(g)

0.00 0.625 1.25

Flour usedfor developing the formula and procedure

SRCFlour

Water LA SC Suc

Branson 46.9 94.8 60.7 86.9

Gluten performance ratio:

SRC LA/(SC+Suc) = 0.644

Mixograph

Effect of sucrose on gluten during mixing

(Used with permission from Louise Slade)

Can we use very low sugar concentration forfaster gluten development in a cracker-baking method?

Sugar Concentration (%)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Cra

cker

Hei

ght/D

ough

Wei

ght (

cm/g

)

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

Cra

cker

Wid

th/L

engt

h

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9CH/DW W/L

Cracker geometry at various %S, 38TS

Softer dough Crumblier dough

Crackers baked with too much water (lower %S at constant TS) resulted in blisters

Cutter W/L

Blisters

L ↑ & W ↓

L ↓ & W ↑

L ↑ & W ↑

Total Solvent

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48

Cra

cker

Hei

ght./

Dou

gh W

eigh

t (cm

/g)

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

Cra

cker

Wid

th/L

engt

h

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Cracker geometry at various TS, ≈ 23.7%S

Crumblier dough Softer dough

The formula with 23.7%S, 38TS was chosen for testing various flours

Cutter W/L

= Round Cracker

L ↑ & W ↓

Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Cra

cker

Hei

ght/D

ough

Wei

ght

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig

0 5 10 15 20

Cra

cker

Hei

ght/D

ough

Wei

ght

0.095

0.100

0.105

0.110

0.115

0.120

Rheological test for 2007 QEC flour

Evaluate extent of gluten development during mixing and machining- Force/Distance of dough in the direction of sheeting was related to

both cracker height/dough weight and cracker width/length.

(Used Kieffer Rig with TAXT)

Samples w/o blisters

Force/Distance with Kieffer Rig

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Cra

cker

Wid

th/L

engt

h

0.78

0.80

0.82

0.84

0.86

0.88

Dough Sheeting direction Perpendicular sheeting

Cultivar w/o enz. 1X 1A 0.5X + 0.5AD8006W 48.5 44.9 48.5 46.8

Caledonia 47.1 43.9 47.0 45.6Crystal 47.2 44.8 47.1 46.1Jewel 51.1 47.7 51.1 49.3

GA96603-4E16 49.2 46.3 49.5 47.9Jamestown 51.9 46.9 51.6 49.3AGS 2000 52.4 46.7 52.0 49.1USG 3209 55.8 48.6 55.9 51.8

Jensen 48.7 44.9 48.8 47.0MPV 57 47.9 43.3 48.0 45.5

Effect of enzyme treatment on water SRC

Used xylanase (X) and alpha-amylase (A)

These very soft wheats did not generate damaged starch during milling, so alpha-amylase was not needed.

Sample

D 8006WCaledonia

CrystalJewel

GA96603-4E06

Jamestown

AGS 2000

USG 3209Jensen

MPV 57

Cra

cker

Hei

ght/D

ough

Wei

ght (

cm/g

)

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25w/o enzyme 1X1A0.5X + 0.5A

Effect of enzyme treatment on cracker baking

**

** Blisters

* Indicates too much water, when arabinoxylanshave been depolymerized. Reduction in waterand sucrose is typically required.

Reduction of blistersby baking crackers with flour blend

(GA 96603-4E16:MPV 57=1:1)GA 96603-4E16 GA+MPV MPV 57

SRC CrackerWater LA SC Suc

LA/(SC+Suc) CH/DW

0.660.560.47

0.1040.1192

0.1942

96.094.993.8

W/L1

GA 96603- 49.2 105.9 64.4 0.8171G+1M 48.5 89.5 63.5 0.823MPV 57 47.9 73.0 62.7 0.790

Flour

Notes: 1 Cutter W/L was 0.73.2 Crackers with blisters. But, the crackers with flour blend showed much smaller and fewer blisters.

Photos show L dimension

The effect of mixing time on blisters(MPV 57)

5 min 10 min

20 min15 min

Cra

cker

Ht.

/Dou

gh w

t (cm

/g)

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

D 8006WCaledonia

CrystalJewel

GA96603-4E06Jamestown

AGS 2000USG 3209

JensenMPV 57

LA/(S

C+S

uc)

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

LA S

RC

(%)

40

60

80

100

120

LA/(SC+Suc) LA SRC

Cracker baking with 2007 QEC flours

Blisters

The gluten performance ratio, SRC LA/(SC+Suc), accounted for the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but gluten functionality alone, individual SRC LA, did not.

?

Cra

cker

Ht./

Dou

gh W

t. (c

m/g

)

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

MO 11126

Coral (E2017)

VA01W-205

VA03W-434

Ambassador (E0028)

Hopewell

D8006W

Pur 02444A1-23-9

Amber (D8006R)

Pur 99600A2-4-32W 1377

Pur 04287A1-10

Envoy (E1009)

Pioneer XW 06M

USG 3209

Pur 03112A1-7-3

VA03W-409Bess

LA/(S

C+S

uc)

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

LA S

RC

(%)

40

60

80

100

120

Blisters

Cracker baking with 2008 QEC floursThe gluten performance ratio, SRC LA/(SC+Suc),

accounted for the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but gluten functionality alone, individual SRC LA, did not.

?

Conclusions• Based on preliminary investigation of the effects of total solvent and sugar concentration, 38TS and 23.7%S were selected as a diagnostic formula to distinguish differences in gluten functionality or performance and overall flour performance for chemically leavened crackers.

• The gluten performance ratio of SRC LA/(SC + Suc) was a better predictor of cracker geometry than the individual gluten functionality value of LA SRC alone. Flours with a gluten performance ratio smaller than 0.52 resulted in blistering.

• Use of alpha-amylase and xylanase demonstrated the effect of enzymes on improved cracker-baking performance, as a result of decreased crumbliness of dough and increased height of cracker.

• Cracker-dough rheology (Force/Distance) in the direction of sheeting showed a negative relationship with the ratio of cracker height to dough weight, but a positive relationship with the ratio of cracker width to length.

Acknowledgements

Ron MartinTom DonelsonScott Beil

THANK YOU!THANK YOU!