Particles size of flour, made from sprouted grain, and their impact on flour's technological properties and quality of the finished products

The article considers the possibility to produce bakery products from the whole meal flour obtained from the sprouted grain of soft wheat of the Ural region in order to enrich them with dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. At the same time, the use of whole meal flour made from the sprouted grain is often associated with the risk of obtaining low-volume bakery products with a sticky crumb and an unattractive appearance. Therefore, the study is aimed at obtaining products from the whole meal flour, which is not inferior to the control samples consumer-oriented characteristics in quality but also superior to them. Study of the properties of whole meal flour obtained from the sprouted grain of wheat as well as its influence on the quality of the finished bakery products make the aim of the research. Wheat grains were sprouted by the controlled sprouting method. Processing of grain during five minutes by an acoustic source of elastic oscillations at a frequency of (22 ± 1.65) kHz and power of 340 W (Volna device, model UZTA-0.4/22-OM) was used to intensify the process. Sprouting was performed using drinking water. There were investigated the flour particles size and their impact on the quality of finished products. It was noted that a sample of whole meal flour from the sprouted grain of soft wheat, previously treated by ultrasonic waves, was characterized by moderate particles size heterogeneity. Particles less than 15.56 microns in size made up about 4.5%, an insignificant part of the flour; 4% of the flour mass consisted of particles ranging in size from 18.5 to 31.1 microns; particles larger than 37-248 microns made up 28% of flour; and large fragments up to 995.9 microns in size made up most of the flour (64%). This fractional composition testified that fine flour particles are able to participate in the dough preparation process, simple sugars (obtained as a result of starch conversion during grain sprouting) intensify the vital activity of yeast cells, and the presence of large fractions allows correcting the rheological properties of dough by moderate influence of α-amylase enzyme and get products of good quality.