No abstract

Over recent decades, several types of ancient grain varieties have been reintroduced through organic farming systems. In the past 20 years, there has been a renewed interest in growing spelt, and this species has a market niche in Europe and North America in natural, organic and healthy products. Are there any differences between commercial wheat varieties and spelt? The analysis of the bread-making quality of three bread wheat and two spelt cultivars has found no significant differences between the two types of wheat in protein, Fe or Zn, although differences were observed between cultivars. In mean quality parameters, a marked difference was observed between the bread wheat and spelt cultivars, the latter having poorer alveo-consistographic characteristics, indicative of weaker gluten and dough. With the exception of the variety 'Craklin', the gliadin/glutenin (Gli/Glu) ratio is negatively correlated with the technological quality of cultivars. Principal component analysis shows that the two commercial wheats 'Bonpain' and 'Sensas' lying close to gluten strength parameters; and, dough extensibility was associated with total gliadin content and the Gli/Glu ratio, both types of spelt being more closely related to these parameters, indicating that spelts are associated with greater dough extensibility.

In this study, we analysed the bread quality parameters of five bread-making flour from single cultivars, namely two spelt wheats ('Espelta Álava' and 'Espelta Navarra') and three bread wheats ('Bonpain', 'Craklin' and 'Sensas'). The grain from the five cultivars, all grown in an organic system, had been milled using the same procedure. Given that bread-making value of flour is closely linked to the dough rheological properties, the use of flour types other than bread wheat requires us to consider modifying the bread-making process. Therefore, the first step of this study was to optimise the bread-making process seeking to maximise the quality of the five breads. Subsequently, it was found that despite the poorer rheological properties and higher gli/glu ratio, the breads made with the spelt flours had better bread quality parameters: larger loaf volume, higher crumb resilience and lower crumb density and firmness. Principal component analysis separated the two spelt wheats from the other samples. We speculate that the bread-making process itself may be a major factor in the quality found in these breads.