Flour composition, dough, and bread properties of intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) compared to annual wheat species

The aim of this study was to gain more knowledge about the breadmaking performance of a novel perennial crop, intermediate wheatgrass (IWG). The main flour constituents of IWG, its rheological properties of dough, and breadmaking performance were compared with those of wheat, einkorn, and emmer. IWG had significantly more protein but less starch and lower arabinose:xylose ratios (indicating sparsely substituted arabinoxylans) than the other species. Rheological analyses showed certain similarities between IWG and emmer dough, as both had low dough stability, more viscous than elastic compliance, and were, therefore, weak. Simultaneously, some properties of IWG dough resembled wheat dough, such as the proportion of large polymeric proteins and strain-stiffening ratio. Although the specific loaf volume was lower in IWG than wheat bread, they had similar form ratios. The results from rheological analyses and small-scale baking trials suggest that IWG proteins form a gas-holding network crucial for breadmaking.