Mechanical properties of short doughs and their corresponding biscuits

The mechanical properties of short doughs of various composition were determined in small amplitude oscillatory experiments and in uniaxial compression. Regardless of composition, the linear region was very limited; beyond that, pronounced yielding and flow occurred. Conductimetry was also used to evaluate the effect of fat type and fat content on dough structure. Short doughs showed large differences in mechanical spectra, conductivity and apparent biaxial extensional viscosity, according to fat and sucrose contents, fat type and mixing time. It is concluded that short doughs are bicontinuous systems; reducing the fat content or changing the rheological properties of the fat relative to those of the non-fat phase results in fat-dispersed systems. The rheological properties of the non-fat phase are largely determined by intact flour particles present in a concentrated sucrose syrup. Sucrose delays, if not inhibits, gluten development through its effect on solvent quality and facilitates formation of a non-fat continuous phase via its effect on solvent quantity. Mixing promotes formation of a continuous fat phase.

Mechanical properties of short-dough biscuits of various composition were determined in three-point bending tests. Increasing fat content or omitting sucrose from the recipe decreased the modulus and the fracture stress of the biscuits. The effect of fat content, however, was dependent on fat type. Temperature during dough preparation, dough water content and temperature during bending tests affected the mechanical properties of biscuits to an extent which depended on fat content. Diffusion of Sudan III into the biscuits indicated that low-fat biscuits are fat-dispersed systems and high-fat biscuits are bicontinuous. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that, irrespective of composition, starch gelatinisation was slight, if not absent, presumably due to the limited water content coupled with the low baking temperature. Under certain storage conditions, biscuits are in a glassy state. Upon water uptake, the matrix undergoes a glass-rubber transition. It is concluded that the mechanical properties of biscuits are mainly determined by air volume fraction, fat continuity, size of inhomogeneities, and physical state of the non-fat phase.