Dough aeration and rheology: Part 1. Effects of mixing speed and headspace pressure on mechanical development of bread dough

A laboratory-scale Tweedy-type mechanical dough development mixer was modified to monitor work inputs of dough during mixing through a computerised data acquisition system. Recorded torque showed a curve that increased to a peak about midway through mixing. Using this system, the effects of mixing speed and pressure on the development of doughs made from strong and weak flours mixed to a work input of 40 kJ kg^-1 were studied. Mixing was characterized in terms of peak torque and torque at the end of mixing (end torque), and in terms of the number of blade revolutions at these two reference points. The peak torque and the end torque both increased with increasing mixing speed. The peak torque increased with increasing mixer headspace pressure, but the end torque did not. The number of blade revolutions to both the point of peak torque and to the end of mixing decreased with increasing mixing speed for both flours, implying dough development at higher speeds was more efficient. Increasing headspace pressure reduced the number of revolutions to the peak, but not to the end of mixing. These results provide evidence that achieving dough development is not independent of mixing speed in Tweedy-type mixers, and that dough aeration, as affected by mixer headspace pressure, affects dough rheology and hence development in the mixer.