Does gluten in flour change in quality during storage?

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the flour milling industry and have this question as I was going through the customer complaints -

Does gluten in flour change in quality (i.e. weaken in gluten strength / reduce in gluten content / etc...) during storage of the flour?? If gluten in flour does deterioate over time, is there any guideline in the deteriorating rate?

Thank you very much!

Doughlas

I'm new to this but certainly flour made from stored grain seems to be better than fresh grain. At the change in seasons around September / October, you get quality issues, e.g. low volume, poor oven spring etc which then has to be compensated for with additional gluten or improver (if you can) and approximately 6 months after harvest the bread is at it's "best" quality and you often find you have to reduce improver level.

I don't think there's a formula for it but certainly from colleagues who have 30 years + experience that this is normal.

I've also worked with biscuit flours in the past and similar issues have arisen with poor quality immediately after harvest. I suspect it must be something to do with natural enzyme activity and moisture content of the fresher grain.

flour quality change during storage like moisture become increases that result the less gluten development during mixing and it also reduce the yield . there is aslo some enzymes that activate during the storage like alpha amylase that also weaks the gluten .
u can study the detorioate rate by research to store the flour for some times .

regards
saqib

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the flour milling industry and have this question as I was going through the customer complaints -

Does gluten in flour change in quality (i.e. weaken in gluten strength / reduce in gluten content / etc...) during storage of the flour?? If gluten in flour does deterioate over time, is there any guideline in the deteriorating rate?

Thank you very much!

Doughlas

Most of the time you would want to use flour that has had some time to mature. In some cases, maturing agents, such as potassium bromate, azodicarbonamide or ascorbic acid, are used to speed up the process. In this case, what the miller is doing is oxidizing the dough so that you have stronger gluten. This process is speeded up also if the flour is stored in a warm area. The down side is that the gluten can become too strong. For example, if you use flour that was milled 3 or 4 months ago, and you want to make croissants or any layered product, the dought might shorten back up when you are trying to stretch it out. Actually, this can happen with almost any product, which can be a problem if you expect a certain width of product and end up with a smaller diameter or length and a puffier product (imagine cookies).