Korean Club Wheat Research Team Results Summary

Korean Club Wheat Research Team Results Summary

April 12, 2002

The five-person Korean club wheat research team, sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates/Seoul, was at Wheat Marketing Center (WMC) on April 8-12, 2002. The team evaluated 2001 crop soft white and white club flours and compared them to a commercial sponge cake flour from Japan and a domestic sugar-snap cookie flour. The soft white and club flours were milled by WMC on a Miag pilot mill.

The team discovered that club wheat flour performed better than soft white flour for both sponge cake and sugar-snap cookie baking. Low protein club wheat flour (6.1% protein) had the highest scores for sponge cakes and cookies, higher than those of the control flours. High protein soft white (10.3% protein) performed very poorly in both sponge cakes and cookies. It was noticed that club wheat flour generally had better process characteristics than soft white flour. Cake batter from club wheat flour was found to be more stable than soft white flour. This is an important attribute in commercial cake production.

The team noticed that sponge cakes were a little harder than their commercial products in Korea. One reason was that the cake formula used in the testing was different from commercial production formula in Korea. In addition to flour, eggs, sugar, and water, other ingredients such as emulsifiers, shortenings, and stabilizers are often added in commercial sponge cake production. These extra additives are thought to help soften the cake structure and delay cake staling process. However, the specific gravity of the cake batter needs to be optimized if the cake formula is changed.

The following table summarizes the basic flour specifications of sponge cakes and sugar-snap cookies used in Korea:

Parameters
Sponge Cake Flour

Sugar-Snap Cookie Flour

Protein (%)
7.5-8.5

7.5

Ash (%)
0.40

0.40

Farinograph Water Absorption (%)
51-53

53

Farinograph Stability Time (min)
1.5

1.3-1.5

Wet Gluten (%)
19-21

20

Recommendations to follow-up study:
1. Evaluate soft white and white club flours for sponge cakes using Korean commercial formula and WMC formula (Dr. S. Nagao's method).
2. Get a commercial sponge-cake wheat and its commercially milled flour for sponge cakes from Korea.
3. Mill the commercial sponge-cake wheat using WMC Miag pilot mill, and compare the sponge-cake baking quality of flours milled on commercial scale with those milled on pilot scale.

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