Comparative analysis of native and defatted flour from hard, extraordinarily soft, and medium-hard wheat varieties for protein solvation, pasting, mixing, and dough rheological behavior.

The effect of lipids extraction on protein salvation, pasting, and dough rheological behavior of flours dough from hard wheat (HW), extraordinarily soft wheat (Ex-SW), and medium-hard wheat (MHW) flour was analyzed. The varieties selected had wide variation in grain hardness index (17 to 95). Ex-SW revealed lower tryptophan fluorescent emission and water absorption (WA) than MHW and HW varieties. The change in pasting parameters on defatting was the highest for Ex-SW varieties. Native flour (NF) of HW varieties showed high protein content, pasting and dough strength, and fluorescence intensity in comparison to Ex-SW varieties, while on defatting this was reversed. Protein pattern of defatted flour and NF did not differ significantly. Defatting of flours increased WA and decreased dough stability (DS). The decrease in DS on defatting was more for Ex-SW varieties than others. DS for HW and MHW varieties reduced upon defatting. Defatting significantly increased all mixographic and rheological properties except peak time. Overall, results showed that defatting of flour improved paste and dough strength. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Higher gluten strength of defatted wheat flour of varied grain hardness has wide applications. Most of the Indian bread wheat varieties possess GluD1 high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) allelic composition of (2 + 12), which is not suitable for bread making due to weak gluten strength. Defatting of flours improved the gluten strength of strong and weak flour dough of different wheat varieties irrespective of GluD1 allelic composition for HMW-GS. Defatted flour may be used to improve the baking and cooking performance of dough made from weak wheat. These findings are highly suitable for wheat milling and baked product manufacturing industries.