ASPECTS REGARDING THE REPRESENTATION OF FARINOGRAPHIC CURVE TO ASSESS WHEAT FLOUR DOUGH BY MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS

The Brabender farinograph is a device with which important indications for baking are obtained, namely: dough development time (DDT), water absorption (WA), dough stability time (DST), softening degree (SD), Farinograph Quality Number (FQN), important parameters for determining flour mixtures. These parameters are represented on the farinographic curve drawn during the farinograph test. Dough development or formation (formation of gluten) is represented by the ascending branch of the farinographic curve, which has a steep ascending slope, because time (expressed in minutes), fixed on the abscissa of the diagram, has relatively low values (about 1.2–3 min for regular flours), while consistency, fixed on the ordinate of the diagram, reaches the maximum value (peak time) of the dough. In comparison, the descending branch of the farinogram, which starts from the maximum value of the dough consistency (peak time), has a slow descending slope, because the kneading time is extended up to 20 minutes, and the consistency decreases relatively little. The paper presents the appreciation of this branch of the farinogram by mathematical equations for several types of doughs from wheat flour mixed with different percentages of salt.