Evaluation of hard wheat in pasta making

RAFAEL BORNEO; CANTARERO, M.; RUBIOLO, O. J.; LEÓN, A. E.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; 7th International Wheat Conference; 2005

International Wheat Conference

Six wheat varieties were grown during the 2003-2004 seasons under two different nitrogen fertilization conditions. Varieties Buck Charrua, ProINTA Puntal, and Baguette 10 were grown in 2003. Varieties Son Archie (French Variety), ProINTA Puntal, and Pro INTA Oasis were grown during the 2004 wheat season. A complete random design was used in each case (3 varieties x 2 nitrogen treatments x 3 replicates). These wheat varieties are used for commercial production of flours used in breadmaking. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of bread wheat varieties for pasta manufacture and the effect of nitrogen fertilization on pasta quality. After harvesting wheat was conditioned and milled to achieve a 55-60 % extraction rate. Flours were analyzed for moisture, protein and ash content. Fresh pasta was prepared using a standardized laboratory-scale procedure using 50 g of flours. 35-45 % water was sufficient to achieve adequate dough consistency. After mixing, pasta was produced by sheeting in a three stages: first dough was flattened by hand to 1 cm; then, dough was sheeted by passing it through rolls to 3 mm, and, finally, to 1 mm. Sheeted dough was cut into pasta using a set of cutting rolls. Pasta was stored at room temperature (20 ºC) until needed for testing (within 1 hour). Cooking quality and texture was determined by official methods of the AACC. Firmness and adhesiveness of pasta were evaluated using a TAXT2i Texture Analyzer. Pasta made with this lab-scale procedure yielded cooked samples of 1.85-2.25 mm height which denotes an increase of approximately two fold in height after cooking (uncooked samples height was around 1.0-1.1 mm). No significant differences were observed in the percentage of weight increase after cooking for wheat varieties grown with or without N fertilization or between wheat varieties. Although differences were not statistically significant pastas made with wheats grown with added Nitrogen had higher values of cooking losses upon cooking. Values of firmness (obtained by using the Texture Analyzer) were higher for pastas made from wheat grown with nitrogen fertilization. Adhesiveness proved to be a parameter with very high variability to observe any effect of treatments.