Effect of Storage Temperature and Periods on Some Characteristics of Wheat Flour Quality

A laboratory experiment has been designed and implemented to study the effects of storage temperatures (27.5°C and 37.5°C) and storage periods (day, 3 days, 10 days, 20 days and 30 days) in normal conditions and relative humidity on the characteristics of wheat flour quality, as well as some of the chemical characteristics of flour (moisture content and ratio of wet gluten), the physical properties (color and falling number). Increasing the storage temperature from 27.5°C to 37.5°C has led to decreasing moisture content of flour stored under storage relative humidity of 38% - 70%. It has also resulted in extending the storage period from 1 day to 10 days to a decrease in moisture content of flour, and this decline has increased the storage period up to thirty days. The overlap between these two factors has been significantly affective. As the storage temperature of flour increased from 27.5°C to 37.5°C, the percentage of wet gluten has been increased too, and the storage period was extended to ten days. This has led to a significant increase in the percentage of wet gluten flour. In addition, there was a significant response to the effective overlap between the storage temperatures and periods of storage under study in this manner. Increasing the storage temperature from 27.5°C to 37.5°C has led to significantly increased values of the color of the stored flour. Besides, increasing the storage period one day more has led to decreasing the values of the color of the stored flour. However, there has been no significant change to the subsequent periods of storage. The overlap between both factors of temperature and storage periods has a significant effect on the flour color. There has been a significant decrease of the enzyme activity (the height values of the falling No.). But there is a noticeable increase to the falling No. values of the stored flour by 37.5°C when increasing the storage periods from one day to ten days and thirty days. This effect, nonetheless, has not reached the significant level.