Dough-Making Technology for Sugar and Hard-Dough Cookies

Pastry dough differs in technological properties and requires optimal production modes. The article describes the effect of technological variables of flour from wheat samples with different grain hardness on the rheological profile of dough and the quality of sugar and hard-dough cookies. The research featured wheat grain, flour, and dough for sugar and hard-dough cookies. The grain hardness was assessed using the granulometric method. The amylographic profile of the flour was measured with a Brabender amylograph (Brabender, LLC, Russia), the rheological properties of the dough were analyzed with a Rheotest-2 rotational viscometer (Mettingen, Germany), and the strength characteristics of the cookies were tested with an ST-2 structure meter (Laboratoria Kachestva, LLC, Russia). The dough viscosity went down together with the grain hardness. The dependence of the shear stress of the dough on the deformation rate was described by power functions. The extra-hard wheat flour raised the strength by 55–60% in sugar cookies and by 45–50% in hard cookies. The maximal amylogram height was 237 amylograph units for soft wheat and 852 amylograph units for extra-hard wheat. The cookies with low grain hardness demonstrated the highest water-absorption with a 60% difference from the extra-hard wheat samples. The grain hardness indicator made it possible to develop new cookie formulations by varying the amounts of sugar and fat. A systematic approach to technological variables of dough-making from wheat grain with different hardness yielded a new control method to program the rheological properties of dough and the quality of sugar and hard-dough cookies. Further research will provide new quality management systems for different pastries.