Magic Angle Spinning NMR of Flours and Doughs

Abstract

The study of the properties of wheat flours is necessary to understand the mechanical and rheological properties of the resulting dough and therefore of the finished baked products. In the specific case of bread, recent works have concerned low resolution NMR for studying water and lipid mobility [1-3]. The mobility of water in dough is an important parameter being related to the quality of gluten network. To gain more insight in the structural characteristics of dough and of its principal components, gluten and starch, solid-state Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR was applied. The interactions of each dough component with water and effects of heating during bread making were also studied. MAS methods improve resolution by averaging dipolar interactions, along with chemical shift anisotropy and magnetic susceptibility. This permits to detect easily and quantify signals due to various components of dough and flours.