Issue 14: April, 2022: This e-bulletin is

aimed at health professionals, consumers,

growers, farmers, packers, processors,
distributors, retailers, and others in the
plant foods area.

Wheat, flour & bread

Today’s consumers in developed countries take bread for granted as it is available in a
wide range of choices in numerous stores at a reasonable price. Many consumers also
make bread at home. Bread is highly nutritious and is often referred to as ‘the staff of
life’. It dates to the origins of time and is mentioned extensively in early folklore and
literature both pre- and post-Christian and still extensively today in the media. The war
in Ukraine and the possibility of wheat shortages may have awakened Irish consumers
to appreciate the precious nature of bread. It has also prompted the Irish Department
of Agriculture and Food (DAFF) to encourage Irish farmers to immediately sow spring
wheat in case of shortage.

This article deals almost exclusively with white pan breads. Taking good field
performance as a given, the term good baking quality wheat is based on a number of
factors: (i) satisfactory pre-milling tests i.e. protein content, Hagberg falling number,
1000 grain weight, hectolitre weight, hardness index; (ii) ease of milling and dough
handling, high flour water absorption properties; (iii) post-baking quality – this is
largely sensory in nature i.e. attractive loaf volume/shape (not stunted or ‘blown’),
bright white crumb (not grey or dark), uniform crumb structure with many similar
sized small cells, soft crumb with a degree of springiness, good flavour (taste and
aroma). These post-baking quality factors can now also be measured instrumentally
which helps remove human bias (Ktenioudaki et al., 2010).

Self-sufficiency
Irish consumers are exposed on a number of food availability fronts due to failings in
self-sufficiency. Government policy has been to promote the dairy and beef sectors to
the almost exclusion of the tillage and horticultural foods areas. The outcome is that
Ireland imports huge amounts of cereal grains, flour, sugar, potatoes, fruit and
vegetables many of which can be grown successfully here. An important compromise is
that Ireland needs a degree of self-sufficiency in all foods and the ability to increase
production if necessary when an international shortage arises. Consumers are
increasingly shopping locally for foods grown ‘just down the road’. Air and road mile
issues are also a factor as is Brexit. Collectively, these factors point strongly to the
need for increased self-sufficiency for many food types and especially those of plant
origin, and for a government Minister to have responsibility for the area.

Wheat
The climate, soils and other agronomic factors in Canada and Ukraine are especially
suited to the production of high quality hard wheats. The so-called hard wheats have a
high protein and gluten content and the quality of the gluten is very good. Such wheats
are a desirable component of wheat blends that are milled to produce flours suitable

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for bread-making. The question is, therefore, are Irish grown wheats suitable for
producing good quality bread? The answer is probably no – suffice to say that some
Irish grown spring wheat varieties produce bread of moderate sensory quality.
However, if combined with high quality imported hard wheats in a milling blend, then
some Irish grown spring wheat varieties will produce bread of high sensory quality.

Extensive trials were conducted in An Foras Taluntais/Teagasc on spring and winter

wheats grown by the Department of Agriculture (DA)/DAFF in the period 1975-1996.
Summarised results are in the Cereal Technology sections of Teagasc Food Science &
Technology Research Reports for that period and also in a paper by Dwyer et al., 1982.
The outcome was that almost two thirds of spring wheat varieties tested were suitable
for producing bread of moderate sensory quality and that most winter wheat varieties
were not. Trials on sowing spring wheat varieties in both winter and spring had a
negative outcome in that the higher yielding winter sown wheat gave bread of inferior
sensory quality to the spring sown. A trial on different levels of late nitrogen
application to the winter wheat Copain increased grain protein content but had no
effect on improving milling or baking quality (Dwyer & Thomas, 1980). A trial in 2010
on varieties grown in different locations showed that a Canadian blend, Malacca (UK)
and Hereward (UK) wheats were classified as of good baking quality; Caphorn
(France), Tzemele (Greece) and Tzeneroso (Greece) wheats as moderate; and Irish
grown Cordiale and Raffles as of poor baking quality (Ktenioudaki et al., 2010). Current
wheat growing trials in Teagasc (Oakpark) are being conducted in cooperation with
cereal technologists in Teagasc (Ashtown) thereby ensuring a complete evaluation from
‘field to bread’. The DAFF spring wheat recommended list for 2022 gives the varieties
Hexham and KWS Talisker, and also provisionally recommends KWS Helium and WPS
Duncan. Quality characteristics for these range 11.2-12.5% (protein), 236-315 sec
(Hagberg F. No.), 44.3-49.3g (1000 grain weight), 77.3-79.9kg/hl (hectolitre wt). All
four are classified as hard wheats and collectively the data suggest they would be
suitable for bread-making. However, test milling and baking trials have not been
conducted.

Flour
Flour characteristics of wheats from the DA and DAFF trials (1975-1996) were
determined as indicators of potentially good bread-making wheats. While many of the
flour characteristics suggested good baking quality, this was not the case when test
baking was conducted with most bread classified as of moderate sensory quality and
some as poor. This highlights the importance of conducting milling and baking tests.
Good quality hard wheat is essential for efficient milling as softer wheats are sticky
which slows mill output and gives a lower flour yield. High output bakers require good
quality white flours with high water absorption capacity. This is advantageous in that it
results in a raised water content in the finished loaves which is an economic advantage
for bakers (KPM Analytics, 2022). Both gluten content and quality of the flours must
also be good. The absence of large flour mills in Ireland will be a problem in the event
of Ireland growing a significant amount of its own bread-making wheat. Perhaps the
wheat could be sent to millers in the UK but this might raise export/import issues
linked to Brexit. It would also add extra cost to the flour. Hopefully this requirement
will not arise. However, it is important to stress that there are a number of
small/medium sized flour mills in Ireland who produce a wide range of specialty lower
quality flours which are highly suitable for the production of a wide range of baked
goods (e.g. biscuits, buns, pies, cakes, flavoured breads, brown soda breads) by
artisan, small and in-store bakers, and also for home baking.

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Bread
Virtually all large scale bakeries use the Chorleywood bread making process (CBP).
This is a high energy input no-time dough system combined with an enclosed high-
speed mixer that is used in large-scale production of yeast-leavened bakery products
such as white pan bread and buns. The total fermentation and baking takes 3-3.5h
compared to almost 6h if using low energy inputs in the dough mixing. The CBP
requires flours from milling blends with significant hard wheat content. Such flours
have high protein and gluten contents. Gluten can be likened to the ‘bubble gum’ of
bread. Gluten should be elastic and extendable and not brittle as it is required to hold
the gas bubbles released during fermentation thus ensuring good crumb structure in
the bread. High quality white pan loaves have good volume, an attractive crust colour
and a crumb with a large number of small sized thin-walled cells and a soft texture.
Loaves from lower quality flours have a smaller loaf volume and a crumb with a
mixture of cell sizes and perhaps holes in the crumb due to poor quality gluten. The
crumb will also be harder. However, it is important to stress that bread from lower
quality flour is almost as nutritious as that made from high quality flour i.e. the
differences are of a sensory rather than a nutritional nature. Protein content in the
former may be 1-2% lower as may also be some of the other constituents but the
loaves are still highly nutritious.

Bread improvers
Bread improvers are ingredients/compounds that have a positive effect on bread
quality such as improving nutritive value, ensuring a uniform crumb structure (small
cells), maintaining soft texture, and prolonging shelf life (Sonneveld, 2022). They
include enzymes, emulsifiers, hydrocolloids, preservatives and dairy powders. For
example, sodium caseinate and hydrolysed casein increased bread protein content and
loaf volume, and helped maintain crumb softness. Bread containing 2% or 4% sodium
caseinate was rated highly in sensory evaluation (Kenny et al., 2000).

Conclusions: Past history suggests that selected Irish grown spring wheat varieties
produce white bread of moderate sensory quality. However if combined with high
quality imported hard wheats in a milling blend, then some Irish grown spring wheat
varieties will produce high quality bread. Virtually all Irish grown winter wheats give
bread of low sensory quality. However, these breads are almost equally nutritious as
high quality breads. The baking quality of the spring wheats recommended by DAFF
(2022 list) has not been evaluated due to the absence of test milling and baking.

References
*Dwyer, E. & Thomas, T. 1980. Food Science & Technology Research Report, An Foras Taluntais, 35.
*Dwyer, E., Gormley, R. & Walshe, T. 1982. Some aspects of the quality of spring wheat grown in Ireland, 1975-79.
Irish Journal of Food Science & Technology, 6, 79-89.
*Kenny, S., Wehrle, K., Stanton, C. & Arendt, E. 2000. Incorporation of dairy ingredients into wheat bread: effects on
dough rheology & bread quality. European Food Research & Technology, 210, 391–396.
* KPM Analytics. 2022. Water absorption capacity of flour. Accessed on 22 April, 2022.
https://www.kpmanalytics.com/news-events-stories/water-absorption-capacity-of-flour
*Ktenioudaki, A., Butler, F. & Gallagher, E. 2010. Rheological properties & baking quality of wheat varieties from
various geographical regions. Journal of Food Engineering, 51 (3), 402-408.
*Sonneveld. 2022. Why do we use bread improvers? Accessed 22 April, 2022.
https://www.sonneveld.com/en/sonneveld/news/why_do_we_use_bread_improvers

See previous 13 issues of PlantFoods-ucd at: https://www.ucd.ie/foodandhealth/more/plantfoodsucd/

This document was compiled by Professor Ronan Gormley, UCD Institute of Food & Health, School of
Agriculture & Food Science, Belfield, Dublin, 4. More information from ronan.gormley@ucd.ie
DISCLAIMER: While every care has been taken in ensuring the accuracy of the material presented, no
liability as to its use or interpretation is accepted by the author or by UCD.