July 17, 2014

Northern Crops Institute hosts flour quality course

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Six participants from United Arab Emirates and United States are attending the Rheology of Wheat and Flour Quality course this week at Northern Crops Institute on the NDSU campus. They will learn about wheat quality and how to effectively analyze, interpret and apply rheological results.

Each participant will gain hands-on experience with the rheological instruments. They are focusing on tests for dough strength, viscosity, gluten content, falling number, flour color, ash content, moisture, starch damage and texture analysis.

Hands-on baking sessions help participants understand the impact of flour quality on baked products and baking performance, and how to perform tests to evaluate the baked product’s quality.

“The focus of the course is to help participants who work in the baking and milling industries understand the differences in wheat and flour quality, and how those differences can affect baking performance,” says John Crabtree, institute assistant director. “Our ultimate goal is to make sure that participants understand the performance of wheat and flour, so they can trouble shoot for their customers through scientific methods. The underlying theme of this course is customer service as it relates to the baking industry.”

Course topics include an overview of the U.S. wheat classes; factors that define wheat and flour quality; impact of milling on wheat flour quality; impact of protein and starch on end product quality; characterization of mixing, fermentation, and baking processes; and functional ingredients in flour and flour-based products.

Course speakers are Rachel Carlson, food technologist; Natsuki Fujiwara, food scientist; Thunyaporn Naggie Jeradechachai, crop quality specialist; David Hahn, director of technical services and business development; Robert Meyer, Dakota Specialty Milling; and Rilie Morgan, processing specialist.

Northern Crops Institute is the international center for meeting and learning about crops produced in the four-state region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. The institute brings together customers, commodity traders, technical experts, processors and producers from around the globe for discussion, education, and technical service programs. Since 1983, the institute has hosted visitors from more than 130 countries.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.

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