Effects of dough resting time on the development of gluten network in different sheeting directions and the textural properties of noodle dough

Abstract Effects of different dough resting times (0, 30, 60, and 90 min) on the microstructure of gluten network along the sheeting direction (longitudinal direction) and perpendicular to the sheeting direction (transverse direction), and the textural properties of dough sheet were investigated. Dough resting for more than 30 min reduced the transverse relaxation time, increased the content of tightly bound water in dough crumbs, and significantly increased the content of glutenin macropolymer in dough sheet. Microstructure revealed that dough resting for more than 30 min made the gluten network distributed more uniformly and compactly, while the total protein length and number of protein network lines of transverse direction increased by 25.57% and 10.50%, respectively, higher than the increase rate of longitudinal direction (15.93% and 7.09%, respectively). Furthermore, compared with 0 min, resting for more than 30 min increased the transverse resistance to extension and extensibility by 9.40% and 28.31%, respectively, higher than the increase rate of longitudinal direction (5.77% and 6.43%, respectively). According to the results, in comparison with the longitudinal direction, resting was more beneficial to the formation of an effective gluten network in transverse direction, and the quantitative analysis method intended for transverse and longitudinal gluten network was feasible.