Influence of tempering moisture on milling potential of some cereals

Milling behavior of hulled barley and oat, triticale, rye and wheat was studied at different tempering moisture. Milling was performed using a laboratory four-roller mill. The physicochemical and technological properties of cereals and corresponding flours obtained by milling were analyzed. Milling yields, as well as protein, ash and crude fiber contents of flour were higher at lower tempering moisture in the case of all investigated cereals. In addition, tempering moisture influenced the termo-mechanical properties of the flour based doughs. The largest milling yield variation while increasing the moisture tempering between 13 and 15% was registered in the case of rye milling, whereas the largest ash contentvariation was registred in the case of flour obtained through hulled barley milling.The crude fiber content of hulled oat flour was much higher compared to the other investigated flours, and varied with the moisture tempering, ranging between 73.3 and 34.3% of grain crude fiber. Concerning the protein content, the largest decrease at milling was reported in the case of rye flour. Thermo-mechanical properties of doughs were affected by the level of crude fiber and the level of amylase activity. The hulled barley and hulled oat flours had higher maximum viscosity during heating, while rye and hulled barley flours had lower hot gel starch stability than wheat flour.