The water uptake of flours made of gluten-free, plant-based raw materials as well as their mixing properties within a formulation are important for product development.

For wheat and spelt flours, for example, methods already exist to analyze these properties. For corn, chickpea, and other vegetable flours, methods do not yet exist, and water absorption and ratios for formulations are often determined by trial and error.

University College Cork and Brabender have developed a method to determine the water uptake of those flours by using the Brabender Farinograph, and have shown how this tool can be helpful for formulation development. Therefore, formulations with hydrocolloids (such as sodium alginate and guar gum) were mixed and analyzed. Water uptake, dough development, and stability were determined. Within that project, it has been shown that the Farinograph is a useful tool for testing the quality of the raw material itself and to improve the final product (in this case: bread) quality.

The full paper on this project is available here

Brabender is looking for an industrial partner (e.g. an ingredient supplier) to test this method in terms of practicability on an industrial scale. Are you interested? Please connect with Jessica Wiertz on LinkedIn