ABSTRACT
Technological functionality of the main ingredients of a flour depends on the processing stage considered. In bread or cookie dough, starch is often considered a relatively inert filler dispersed in the viscoelastic gluten network. This network controls the rheological behavior of the dough itself, such as its elasticity and extensibility during fermentation, machining (sheeting and laminating), relaxation, cutting, and thermal expansion during baking. This chapter describes physical transformations occurring during baking, with special emphasis on the behavior of starch and the role of water. Changes in the properties of the aqueous phase induced by the increase in temperature, and the subsequent structural changes were investigated using the spin probe electron spin resonance method. The small amplitude oscillatory rheological measurement was performed with a viscoanalyzer equipped with a thermocontrol unit. Hydrated starch has no paramagnetic activity, so the spin-probing technique was employed, in which a compound with a nitroxide radical, possessing a stable free electron, is added to the system.
