The role of wheat flour minor components in predicting water absorption

Water absorption (WA) in wheat flour is a crucial quality parameter for optimizing bread-making processes. The determinants of wheat flour WA were investigated through the analysis of 28 compositional and technological properties of 150 wheats grown in France. A multiple linear regression approach was used to predict WA, selecting the best model through successive examination of Bayesian Information Criterion, Variance Inflation Factor and minimizing the total number of variables.
A model with protein content (Prot), soluble starch (SS), damaged starch (SD) and specific viscosity from water extractable arabinoxylans (SV.AX) was identified as the best trade-off between the number of variables and the predictive performances among all possible models. SS, a new criterion measured alongside water extractable AX content (WE-AX), shows significant potential to predict water absorption compared to SD. These results demonstrate the significant impact of WE-AX on wheat flour water absorption, making them key criteria for assessing wheat quality

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