Baking performance and sensory quality of organic wheat cultivars

Eleven different wheat cultivars (Thaifun, Triso, Thasos, Trappe, Amaretto, Diskett, Okilde, Dache, Koga, Spelt and Emmer) were cultivated in an organic study using three different organic treatments (no manure, household waste compost and sewage sludge compost). Bread was baked with flour from each of the samples. The protein content, the gluten content and the Falling Number (FN) were measured for the flour samples and specific volum and sensory quality were measured on the bread samples. A big variation was found in protein and gluten content and Falling Number between flour samples of eleven different wheat cultivars that were grown using three different field treatments. A correlation was found between the protein content and the gluten content (R2 = 0.86). Based on the protein and gluten content the eleven cultivars could be divided into two groups: One group having low protein and gluten content and one group having appropriate protein and gluten content for organic bread production. The specific volume of the bread also showed significant differences for the eleven cultivars. The bread samples of Diskett resulted in the biggest volume, and rather high bread volume for Trappe and Spelt. Koga and Dache resulted in low bread volume even though they both had an appropriate protein and gluten content. Thus, this study did not show a direct relationship between the protein- and gluten content and bread volume. The sensory profiles of the bread for the eleven cultivars were very different, leading to big differences in both textural-, aroma- and taste attributes. The sensory profile of Emmer was very different from the sensory profile of Spelt and Diskett.