Modelling of dough formation process and structure evolution during farinograph test

Dough formation process is a relevant step in cereal goods manufacturing, as in this stage the material develops its mechanical properties. Dough structure formation is promoted by mechanical energy transfer from the mixer blades to the sample, affecting flour hydration and gluten network formation kinetics. This paper reports a model of dough formation process during a farinograph test, accounting for all rele- vant physical phenomena: wheat particles hydration, gluten network formation, evolution and (eventually) disruption as effect of mixing energy. Results of the model are in terms of network strength and connec- tivity evolution, and a qualitative agreement was found with typical farinograph results. This allowed to employ the model to study the effect of the flour’s physical properties on the empirically defined (but employed as industrial standards) farinograph outputs. Therefore, simulation results allowed to gain a physical insight of the technological parameters from a farinograph test.