Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Measuring – testing – or controlling by inanimate means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-27
2001-09-04
Cano, Milton I. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Measuring, testing, or controlling by inanimate means
C426S504000, C426S496000, C426S549000, C426S391000, C426S023000, C426S271000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06284296
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of dough manufacture. More particularly, the invention is concerned with assessing flour samples for dough forming potential, monitoring subsequent dough formation and modifying the physical properties of the dough during the course of dough mixing. In practice, the levels of tyrosine, dityrosine and other tyrosine bonded compounds are measured in flour to predict dough forming properties, based on the potential level of tyrosine bonds that may be produced during mixing of the flour with water to produce a dough. The actual levels of bonds incorporating tyrosine formed in dough during mixing may also be monitored and manipulated as needed by the addition of oxidizing/reducing agents or tyrosine analogues to consistently produce high quality doughs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In flour dough manufacture, dough is produced by mixing wheat flour and water. Other ingredients (e.g. salt) are added depending on the product being made. Dough made from wheat flour has a viscoelastic property not exhibited by doughs made from other cereals. This viscoelastic property is believed to be derived from gluten protein. The glutenin subunits, one of the two classes of storage proteins which are part of the gluten complex in wheat, are known to directly affect dough formation and bread making quality. Present theories regarding dough formation were developed with the idea that only disulfide crosslinks are involved in the mechanism of gluten structure formation. It was believed that these disulfide bonds were formed and/or broken and reformed during the mixing process and were ultimately responsible for the characteristics exhibited by a particular sample of dough.
Based on the intended use of the dough, different properties may be desired, i.e., a dough intended to be used for bread may have different desirable properties than a dough made for breakfast cereal processing. Additionally, similar flours used in dough processing may exhibit different characteristics during mixing due to environmental conditions present when the grain used to make the flour was growing or genetic differences. As can be seen, dough manufacture is affected by many different variables and it was heretofore impossible to predict with reasonable accuracy the qualities that any dough will exhibit during mixing based on an a priori analysis of the flour or wheat used.
The addition of oxidizing/reducing agents, metal chelating agents, or adjusting the dough pH during processing can affect the properties and consistency of the dough as desired. For example, a common modifier and improver of doughs, potassium bromate, has been determined to be potentially carcinogenic at certain levels and its use in bread doughs has been banned in the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand. The United States has limited the use of potassium bromate with maximum permitted levels of 50 or 75 ppm. However, following a request from the FDA in 1991, a majority of baking companies have voluntarily stopped using potassium bromate.
As a result of processing, dough can become sticky and reduce operating efficiency causing expensive delays and product loss. Alternatively, the dough can be overdeveloped or overworked resulting in low quality products. There is a point in time during mixing of every dough where continued mixing beyond that point results in a dough of inferior quality. Stopping the mixing process prior to that point also results in unacceptable dough quality. What is needed are methods of assessing dough forming potential of a flour prior to processing in order to precalibrate processing equipment thereby reducing the amount of manipulation required to efficiently produce an optimum dough; monitoring dough formation during processing so as to assess dough characteristics in a way that consistently results in product optimization; and manipulating dough formation during processing to effect optimization of the final dough product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention solves the prior art problems mentioned above and provides a distinct advance in the state of the art. In particular, through use of the methods of the present invention, an optimum flour dough product may be consistently prepared despite differences in initial flour quality or mixing times which previously resulted in doughs of dramatically different quality. Overall quality control in dough processing can be more tightly controlled through use of the methods of the present invention. The invention is predicated on the discovery that the content of bonds incorporating tyrosine residues in a dough (or the starting flour used in the dough) has a profound and heretofore unrecognized effect on dough manufacture and ultimate quality.
As used herein, the following definitions will apply: “tyrosine” refers to the tyrosine residues within a peptide or protein chain; “tyrosine bonds” refers to bonds between a tyrosine residue within a peptide or protein chain and another chemical moiety, free or within a polypeptide, and embraces dityrosine species as well as multiple bonds between respective tyrosine residues and a common bridging moiety; “free tyrosine” refers to the amino acid tyrosine when not within a peptide or protein chain; “dityrosine species” refers to two or more tyrosine residues within the same or different peptide or protein chains which are bonded together; “optimum” with respect to a dough's viscoelastic properties refers to when a dough exhibits desired physical characteristics based on the dough's eventual end-use taking into account the fact that doughs having different eventual end-uses may have different desired viscoelastic characteristics; and “analysis” with respect to tyrosine content refers to any technique for determining tyrosine content such as amino acid analysis of protein or protein hydrolysates, elucidation and analysis of appropriate nucleic acid sequences, and any other physical analytical methods (e.g. NMR).
The preferred dough monitoring method includes preparing a dough in the normal fashion and monitoring tyrosine bond formation. Tyrosine residues can bond and/or form crosslinks between and among other chemical residues or moieties, e.g., tyrosine residues, quinones, hydroquinone, dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), dopaquinone, semiquinones, glutathione (GSH), cysteine, catechols and various carbohydrates. Some of these compounds may also act as a bridge between tyrosine residues in proteins. Structures including tyrosine residues include dityrosine, isodityrosine, trityrosine and other potential structures involving covalent bonds between and among tyrosine residues as well as crosslinks between tyrosine residues and other compounds. Typical tyrosine-bonded chemical moieties found in flours or doughs may include other tyrosine residues, quinones, hydroquinone, dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), dopaquinone, semiquinones, glutathione (GSH), cysteine, catechols and various carbohydrates as well as other structures which could form tyrosine bonds.
As noted above, the addition of oxidizing/reducing agents, metal chelating agents, free tyrosine or adjusting the dough pH during processing can affect the properties and consistency of the dough as desired. For any given process, predetermined standards for an optimum range of tyrosine bonds will govern the monitoring and any subsequent modification of tyrosine formation in the dough. The monitoring provides continuous feedback indicating the approximate range of tyrosine bonds at individual stages in the process. If there are too many tyrosine bonds, this information is used for example to direct the addition of a specific amount of the amino acid tyrosine or metal chelating agents to the dough to prevent over-formation of tyrosine bonds. If this factor is not monitored or tyrosine is not added, continued mixing will cause the dough to become too sticky resulting in an obstruction of the machinery and ultimately, product waste. The present invention also allows for mixing to progress past
Cano Milton I.
Hovey Williams Timmons & Collins
Kansas State University Research Foundation
Madsen Robert
LandOfFree
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