Moderate addition of B-type starch granules improves the rheological properties of wheat dough

The quality traits of wheat grain ultimately determine the performance of wheat flour and dough, which is crucial to end-products. However, to combine high yield and good grain quality has been a great challenge in wheat breeding. In this study, the different sized A- and B-type starch granules were fractioned to investigate their effects on the physicochemical properties of wheat flour and rheological properties of wheat dough using three substitution levels (5, 10, and 15%). Results showed that 5% B-type starch granules addition increased the percentage of SDS-unextractable polymeric protein, optimized the dough network, and increased the bond water content, and thus improved the dough rheological properties. The addition of A-type starch granules or excessive B-type starch granules diluted and destroyed the structure of gluten, and reduced the dough strength. Therefore, a possible strategy for combining wheat quality and yield was proposed, that is, replacing protein content with B-type starch granules at a proper level, which has profound implications for wheat breeders to look at and address trade-offs between the quality and yield of wheat in future.