The relationship between wheat flour properties and specific volume of Chinese steamed bread: Focus on gluten micro-structure and gluten-starch interaction

Chinese steamed bread (CSB) is a fundamental dietary staple food in China, but the mechanism of wheat quality properties determining CSB performance remains unclear, which limits the breeding of specific wheat varieties for the production of CSB. The specific volume (SV) is a key parameter for evaluating the CSB performance. In order to clarify the relationship between flour properties and SV of CSB, the parameters reflecting quality properties on flour, dough, and CSB levels of twelve wheat genotypes were determined, and the relationships between these parameters were investigated by correlation analysis and mathematical models. The results showed that SV is not linearly related to the flour or dough properties, whereas a parabolic relationship was observed between SV and lacunarity, B/Lacunarity (filling degree of B-types granules to gluten network), dough storage and loss modulus, which can be preliminarily fitted with polynomial (quadratic) functions. The recommended ranges of these parameters have been tentatively defined accordingly. This study provides valuable insight into the relationship between wheat quality properties and SV of CSB, and provides a foundation for establishing a complete prediction model for CSB performance.