Relationships between the physical characteristics and rheological properties of flour and the biscuit dough.

Total quality control of the cookies manufacturing process involves the characterisation of the product at all steps of the manufacturing process. A better knowledge of the physical characteristics of flour and of the rheological properties of dough during and after mixing is necessary to characterize the technological quality of the flour and to enable selection of wheat varieties adapted to the cookies making process. In the present work, we have attempted to define discriminant physical and rheological criteria of flour quality and to develop the corresponding analytical methods. The proposed approach was applied to six batches of flour by determining particle size distribution, and flour powder flow behaviour via a shear test. The mechanical characteristics of doughs during mixing process were determined using a recording dough mixer and complemented by characterization of the rheological properties of the dough under uniaxial compression, Significant correlations were found between the different groups of parameters.