Rheological models of gluten free bread dough

Wheat-based bread products are major nutrition components in most countries around the world. The production of gluten-free bakery products with similar characteristics as wheat products is a challenge, and therefore a thorough study has been done over the past decades to produce gluten-free bread with the right structure and crumb texture. In addition, improving the quality of the bakery products and the development of the relevant apparatuses is entirely dependent on the overall knowledge of the dough rheology. The present research is focused on investigation of gluten free dough flow behavior and determining the best rheological model describing it. Rice, chestnut, sweet potato and maize flours were used in the experiments. A wheat flour was introduced as a reference. The main rheological curve (shear stress-shear rate dependence) was measured by HAAKE^™ Viscotester^™ 550 Rotational Viscometer, equipped with SV DIN measuring bob and cup configuration. The measurements were done at room temperature and shear rate range (0.01 – 1000) s⁻¹. Three categories of rheological models - empirical, theoretical, and structural, were applied to fit the experimental data. The most proper models, which describes the flow properties, were chosen based on statistical analysis.