Rheological and structural insights into frozen dough from wheat varieties with varying gluten content

The effects of varying gluten content on frozen dough performance over 90 days of storage were investigated from macroscopic to microstructural perspectives. High-gluten dough exhibited smaller increases in hardness, minor reductions in springiness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness and storage/loss modulus. Protein analysis revealed that high-gluten dough showed the smallest increase in sulfhydryl (-SH) content (10.38 to 15.84 μmol/g), whereas low-gluten dough showed the largest increase (8.34 to 18.87 μmol/g). Additionally, Low-gluten dough exhibited the highest reduction in glutenin macropolymer content (86.72 %) compared to high-gluten dough (21.82 %). Scanning electron microscopy revealed more pronounced structural degradation in low-gluten dough, while secondary structure analysis showed a shift from α-helix to β-sheet, β-turn, and random coil conformations. Correlation analysis revealed that α-helix was positively correlated with cohesiveness, adhesiveness, and springiness, whereas β-sheet was negatively correlated with these properties. Therefore high-gluten wheat flour is recommended for frozen dough production, as it better preserves functional and structural properties during frozen storage.