Significance of Wheat Flour Particle Size on Sponge Cake Baking Quality

We evaluated the effect and magnitude of flour particle size on sponge cake (SC) baking quality. Two different sets of wheat flours, including flours of reduced particle size obtained by regrinding and flour fractions of different particle size separated by sieving, were tested for batter properties and SC baking quality. The proportion of small particles (<55 mu m) of flour was increased by 11.6-26.9% by regrinding. Despite the increased sodium carbonate solvent retention capacity, which was probably a result of the increased starch damage and particle size reduction, reground flour exhibited little change in density and viscosity of flour-water batter and produced SC of improved volume by 0.8-15.0%. The volume of SC baked from flour fractions of small (<55 mu m), intermediate (55-88 mu m), and large (>88 mu m) particles of soft and club wheat was in the range of 1,353-1,450, 1,040-1,195, and 955-1,130 mL, respectively. Even with comparable or higher protein content, flour fractions of intermediate particle size produced larger volume of SC than flour fractions of large particle size. The flour fractions of small particle size in soft white and club wheat exhibited lower flour-water batter density (102.6-105.9 g/100 mL) than did those of large and intermediate particle fractions (105.2-108.2 g/100 mL). The viscosity of flour-water batter was lowest in flour fractions of small particle size, higher in intermediate particles, and highest in large particles. Flour particle size exerted a considerable influence on batter density and viscosity and subsequently on SC volume and crumb structure. Fine particle size of flour overpowered the negative effects of elevated starch damage, water absorption, and protein content in SC baking.