Wheat flour flowability as affected by water activity, storage time and consolidation
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Food Engineering and Process Management, Warsaw Agricultural University, Nowoursynowska 159c 02-787 Warszawa, Poland
Int. Agrophys. 2005, 19(2): 119-124
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The influence of water activity, storage time and consolidation on the flowability of wheat flour were evaluated. Powder flowability was measured using a Jenike shear tester according to the Jenike procedure at four levels of normal consolidating stress within the range of 4.9-17.5 kPa. Flour was placed in a humidity chamber to obtain samples of flour at 0.33 and 0.8 water activity. Instantaneous shear tests were performed at temperature of 20°C on each sample, from which the instantaneous flow functions were obtained. Time consolidation tests on the flour at 0.33 and 0.8 water activity were carried out using a Jenike shear cell and consolidating bench for the consolidation time of 1 and 7 days. Temporal flow functions of the flour were determined to quantify the combined effect of moisture content, time and compression stress.