Effect of endogenous phenolic acids on the mixing properties of wheat flour doughs

An interchange experiment showed that it was the gluten/starch fraction of flour and not the level of ferulic acid that controlled rapid breakdown of overmixed doughs. This finding also explains why a large amount of exogenous ferulic acid is needed to cause rapid breakdown. Quantitative analysis of the phenolic acids in wheat flour and doughs showed ferulic acid to be the predominant phenolic acid. During overmixing of wheat flour doughs, ferulic acid was lost from those fractions that initiated breakdown in gluten/starch doughs. As wheat flour dough was overmixed, the concentration of ferulic acid in the free form decreased from 1·0 to 0·3 mg/kg and in the soluble, bound form from 3·8 to 0·9 mg/kg. Ferulic acid in the insoluble, bound form did not decrease in concentration, remaining at about 36 mg/kg. These data are in agreement with the theory that ferulic acid in the water-soluble fraction of wheat flour interacts with the gluten/starch fraction to bring about rapid dough breakdown.