Effect of kilning and milling on the dough-making properties of oat flour

Oats are mostly used for porridges, flakes, and cereal breakfast. The current oat kilning and milling methods are suited for these purposes. Bread-making applications have been explored, but the bread quality results are far from optimal. The goals of this study were to determine whether infrared (IR) and steam kilning may impact dough rheology, and to assess if particle size distribution and bran content could impact dough properties. IR kilning had a negative effect on the dough-making properties of oat grains, resulting in a very stiff and short dough, while steam-kilned dough did not change the dough-making properties. Oat meal also resulted in a stiff and short dough, and re-milling did not change this pattern. In contrast, removing all the bran from the oat meal improved dough-making properties. Dough rheology was negatively impacted by the bran, and this effect was larger for large and medium size bran than for fine bran. This was attributed to their high content of beta-glucans. In conclusion, current kilning and milling methods are not suitable for bread-making purposes and these treatments must be optimized. Whole grain oat meal is not a proper material for bread applications in the absence of fractionation.