Sensing gluten development during bread dough mixing

The mean, standard deviation, and low frequency energy calculated from the outputs of a power transducer are used to indicate gluten development during mixing. Since the mean, standard deviation, and low frequency energy all contribute to the indication of gluten development, they can be combined and quantified as a dough mixing index. Using this index, the elapsed mixing time, and the dough temperature, the necessary inputs to a fuzzy logic control system for dough mixing control are provided. The authors discuss the instantaneous input power data acquisition system (DAS) and digital signal processing (DSP) system that was constructed, and employed. The DAS and DSP system and the fuzzy logic control system provide a non-intrusive real-time gluten development sensing and control technique which follows gluten development during mixing.<>