Maltose formation during the isothermal rest of wheat dough

Abstract Wheat flour dough with a water content ranging from 1.5 to 6.0 g-H2O/g-flour was prepared and rested at temperatures between 40 °C and 80 °C for 6–7 h. The amount of maltose produced by endogenous amylolytic enzymes during the rest period was measured. The differential scanning calorimetric measurement of the dough showed that 80% and 100% of starch was gelatinized at 60 °C and 70 °C, respectively, at water contents of 3.0 g-H2O/g-flour or higher. The amount of maltose produced reached ~0.25 g-maltose/g-flour at 60 °C for dough with water contents of 3.0 g-H2O/g-flour or higher. At temperatures of 60 °C or higher, the amount of maltose produced decreased due to inactivation of amylolytic enzymes. The amount of maltose produced was smaller at temperatures lower than 60 °C due to insufficient gelatinization of the starch. Furthermore, kinetic analysis showed that maltose formation processes consisted of two processes: an early fast one and a later slow one.