Using wheat flour mixing technology: the relationship between dough rheological properties and oil content in frying behaviour

This study investigated the potential of six wheat flour mixing schemes for reducing the oil content of fried dough sticks and provided a new idea for the production of special wheat flour. The results showed that the FP-4, FP-5 and FP-6 mixing schemes showed some degree of oil reduction, while the FP-1, FP-2 and FP-3 mixing schemes did not perform well in terms of oil reduction. Overall, the compounded wheat flour with relatively high-protein content had a good oil reduction effect. Dough with higher water absorption, longer development time, stability time and higher deformation capacity had a denser gluten network structure, which was attributed to the presence of membranes in the gluten structure that acted as a barrier to the intrusion of oil. The principal component analysis results also showed that FP-5 and FP-6 had relatively high overall scores and had better dough characteristics that were conducive to the reduction of oil content in fried dough sticks. To some extent, the wheat flour mixing scheme proposed in the study has a positive effect on the reduction of oil content in fried dough sticks and can be used as a data reference for the development of low-fat fried dough sticks.