EFFECT OF COLD PLASMA ON WHEAT FLOUR AND BREAD MAKING QUALITY

Cold plasma is an environmentally friendly technology that meets the present ecological requirements. Plasma is not accumulated in end-used products. As the cold plasma is produced just before usage, there are no requirements either for storage or activation procedure. Cold plasma has an oxidation-reduction potential. In the bread baking industry it is used in dough systems to whiten the flour and subsequent bread crumb. Also to promote disulfide bond formation between glutenin proteins, that improves dough strength. Experiments have been realized to evaluate the influence of cold plasma treatment on the flour and bread-making quality without the use of any additives. Wheat flour was treated with cold plasma in counter flow exchange by using the device "Plason". Exposure: concentration of 1000 ppm at 2.5 L/minute. Time exposition: 45 minutes. Because gas dissociates quickly into molecular oxygen the assessment of wheat flour was made first just after treatment, and then five days later. As a result of cold plasma treatment, the treated flour has a brightly creamy color, unlike untreated flour. The content of wet gluten has gone down a little due to deterioration of its hydration capacity but gluten quality was increased. Improvements in dough structural and mechanical properties such as, increasing dough stability and dough strength, reduction of dough softening, all have been observed. The results obtained showed that cold plasma has an effect on bread structural and mechanical properties. The loaves baked just after treatment demonstrated expansion of the total and specific volume along with enhancement of their appearance and porosity structure.