Interpreting the correlation between repeated sheeting process and wheat noodle qualities: From water molecules movement perspective

Abstract Water, composed by hydrogen and oxygen elements, plays a prominent role in noodle production, especially in the sheeting process. To reveal the influence mechanism of water molecules movement on noodle qualities, several chemical interactions, gluten properties of the noodles sheeted by 1, 3 and 5 times were investigated in this study. The results of LF-NMR analysis showed that increased sheeting times confined the hydrogen protons mobility, and adjusted the composition proportion of hydrogen protons. These proton redistributions were captured by MRI and were correlated with the strongest hydrogen bonds and the most S–S content at 3 times of sheeting. Meanwhile, the stability and cohesiveness of the gluten network were enhanced, as reflected by increased β-sheets, larger polymeric proteins and decreased end-points rate, which determined the cooking and texture properties changes. Overall, during the sheeting process, water molecules could participate in gluten network formation for regulating the noodle qualities through a series of chemical interactions.