Acta Univ.

Sapientiae, Alimentaria, 8 (2015) 104–110

10.1515/ausal-2015-0010

Role of the farinograph test in the wheat

flour quality determination
G. Diósi
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

M. Móré P. Sipos
e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]
University of Debrecen,
Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management,
Institute of Food Science, H-4032 Debrecen Böszörményi st. 138, Hungary

Abstract. Most objectively, the dough rheological methods can char-

acterize the quality of winter wheat. The Farinograph test is the tradi-
tionally used one in Hungary, but the importance of other methods, such
as Alveograph and Extensograph tests, are getting more widely known
due to the interest and requirements of the industry and export mar-
kets. The Hungarian Standard on wheat quality follows the changes in
the global markets; this is why the falling number appeared in the MSZ
(Hungarian Standard) 6383 in 1998. As the interest in the results of other
rheological test increased from our accession to the European Union, the
evaluation of these parameters on different varieties has become an im-
portant issue of qualification and in 2012 limit values for Alveograph
and Extensograph parameters appear in the Hungarian wheat quality
standard. Additionally, while the baking value was the only evaluated
parameter of the Farinograph test earlier, the standard was supplemented
with limit values for water absorption capacity and stability too.
In this study, we revised different diagrams of Farinograph tests again
from the previous years to reveal whether the new limit values for these
Farinograph parameters change the valuation of wheat flour samples,
therefore whether the quality groups in which the samples were ranked
change considering the new requirements.

Keywords and phrases: wheat, farinograph, Hungarian Standard, absorption capacity,

stability.
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 Role of the farinograph test in the wheat flour quality determination 105

1 Introduction
Maybe the most informative quality parameter of the Hungarian Standard on
wheat quality was the baking quality determined by Farinograph or Valori-
graph and its classification (A, B and C) was the basis for the determination on
use. The standard was changed in 1998, the falling number and sedimentation
volume appeared in the Standard, following the international requirements
(MSZ 6383:1998). After sixteen years, the Hungarian Standard was changed
again: limit values for Alveograph and Extensograph parameters appeared
and the valuation of Farinograph or Valorigraph test enlarged two new test
analysis parameters. The standard was supplemented with parameters with
limit values: water absorption capacity and stability measured by Farinograph
test (MSZ 6383:2012).
With the special instruments, such as Farinograph, Extensograph and mixo-
graph, the comparison of different dough rheological parameters can be per-
formed (Liu et al., 2005). The Farinograph test is described by ISO 5530,
the method is applied to winter wheat. The resistance of dough is evaluated
by the Farinograph test, which means the evaluation of behaviour of dough
against mixing at a specified constant speed with specified water addition (ISO
5530-1:2013).
Parameters determined by 5530 are consistency, farinograph unit (FU),
water absorption capacity of flour, dough development time, stability, mix-
ing tolerance index and farinograph quality number (FQN) (D’Appolonia &
Kunerth, 1984). The different baking products require wheat flours with dif-
ferent quality.
In the study, we revaluated different Farinograph diagrams analysed in the
previous years. We would like to know whether the introduction of new limit
values causes change in the classification of wheat samples.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Materials
In 2009 and 2010, several wheat samples were evaluated in the University of
Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Man-
agement Institute of Food Science. We revalued the results of 58 Farinograph
tests of winter wheat samples.
The baking value was the only evaluated parameter of the Farinograph test
earlier; it corresponded to the MSZ 6383:1998 standard for wheat. Nowa-

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106 G. Diósi et al.

days, the MSZ 6368:2012 standards consider limit values for water absorption
capacity and stability. We revalued these results with the new standard.

2.2 Methods
The Farinograph test characterizes the rheological behaviour of dough, there-
fore the quality of winter wheat. Brabender units are used in the Farinograph
test. Units are arbitrary units that incorporate torque or dough resistance to
mixing.
Figure 1 shows part of the diagram of the Farinograph test:

• Arrival time: time to develop to 500 BU consistencies.

• Peak time: when the dough reaches the maximum strength.
• Departure time: when the top of the curve leaves the 500 BU line.
• Stability: the difference of arrival and departure time.
• Water absorption capacity (Reese et al., 2007).

Figure 1: Representative Farinograph diagram

We determined the water absorption capacity and stability (Table 1 ). The “A”
quality group shows a minimum of 60.0% water absorption and the “B” quality
group has a minimum of 55.0% water absorption (14% moisture content). The
other parameter is stability: the limit value of stability is 10 minutes at least

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 Role of the farinograph test in the wheat flour quality determination 107

for the “A” quality group, while the limit of the “B1” baking value is minimum
6 minutes and the “B2” quality group has minimum 4 minutes.

Table 1: Quality groups and required water absorption and stability

B
Quality group A
B1 B2
Water absorption % (14% moisture content) 60.0 55.0 55.0
Stability (minimum minutes) 10.0 6.0 4.0

The results were perfomed by boxplots using IBM SPSS Statistics 19 pro-
gramme. The dark line in the middle of the boxes is the median. The lower
and upper parts of the boxes represent the quartiles and the farthest (T-bars)
line the 95 per cent interval (Hruzsvai & Vincze, 2012).

3 Results
Figure 2 shows the baking value. The selection of samples used in our tests
was performed by their baking value.

Figure 2: Baking values of evaluated samples by quality groups

We had 58 samples, what is near the limit of each baking value. 12 samples
were selected from A2 quality group, 15 samples from B1 quality group, 15

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108 G. Diósi et al.

samples from B2 and 16 samples from C1 quality group classified by the MSZ
6383:1998. Those samples were chosen which had their baking value close
to the limit value of two quality groups, as the probability of the change in
quality groups is higher for these ones. In the revaluation by MSZ 6383:2012,
the new classification had the same results.
We revalued 58 samples according to MSZ6383:2012 Hungarian Standard.
The results were identical with the previous values of MSZ 6380:1998 Hungar-
ian Standard: A2 12 pieces, B1 15 pieces, B2 15 pieces and C1 16 pieces.
The readings of water absorption capacity of selected samples by quality
groups can be seen in Figure 3. The inclusion of water absorption capacity
values did not result any change between the B1 and B2 quality categories,
while the samples of C1 category could have been classified into a higher group.
According to their water absorption capacity, the samples in the last category
could have been ranked 2 levels higher.

Figure 3: Water absorption capacity values of evaluated samples by quality

groups (%)

In Figure 4, the readings for stability, the second new parameter of MSZ
6383:2012, can be seen. After the revaluation, we have 11 samples A2, 16
samples B1, 15 samples B2 and 16 samples C1 baking value. Therefore, with
the use of the new Hungarian Standard, one sample went from A2 quality
group to B1 quality group.
From the A2 quality group, the stability of 1 sample is lower than the limit
value for this group; thus, it was classified to the B1 quality group. The

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 Role of the farinograph test in the wheat flour quality determination 109

stability time of the sample is 9 minutes; therefore, it does not reach the A1
category’s minimum (10 minutes) value. We distinguish 12 samples A1, 16
samples B1, 15 samples B2 and 16 C1 samples according to the requirements
of the new standard.

Figure 4: Stability values of evaluated samples by quality groups (minutes)

Based on the evaluations, we concluded that the new Hungarian Standard

(MSZ 6383:2012) did not change the baking values significantly. We evaluated
58 winter wheat samples and only one of them stepped back one quality group
due to its stability time.

References
[1] B. L. D’Appolonia, W. H. Kunerth (eds.), The Farinograph Handbook.
AACC, St. Paul, MN, 1984.

[2] C. L. Reese, D. E. Clay, D. Beck, R. Englund, Is protein enough for

assessing wheat flour quality? Western Nutrient Management Conference.
Salt Lake City, UT 7. (2007) 85–90.

[3] L. Hruzsvai, Sz. Vincze (2012). SPSS-könyv Seneca Books. 294–301

[4] ISO 5530-1:2013 Wheat flour - Physical charasteristics of doughs

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5530:-1:ed-3:v1:en.

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110 G. Diósi et al.

[5] Y. L. Liu, J. C. V. Tian, X. M. Deng, Z. Y. Deng, Comparison of dif-

ferent dough rheological measurement and the path cofficient analysis
on bread quality. Agronomy College, Shandong Agricultural University,
Taiwan (2005) 271018.

[6] MSZ 6383:1998 Búzaszabvány.

[7] MSZ 6383:2012 Új búzaszabvány.

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