Organic & Conventional Wholemeal Bread

Background and methodology

Sensory analysis is a valuable and important tool for evaluation of the quality properties of foodstuff. In a meeting on organic farming, the term ecological farming system was established as the term for organic farming system in the Scandinavian countries and therefore the term ecological is used in this study. The main difference between conventional and ecological farming is the use of fertilizer and pesticides. Since the 1920s, wheat has been Sweden’s most important cereal crop. The gluten content of wheat increases as the protein content increases. Ecologically produced wheat often has lower protein content than conventionally produced wheat. This project aimed to show how conventional and ecological farming systems and kneading intensity affected the baking properties of the wholemeal and how these properties affected the taste and consistency of the wholemeal bread.

Findings
Wholemeal from the conventional farming system had higher protein content than wholemeal from ecological farming systems. Wholemeal from the conventional farming system resulted in bread with a large volume and high degree of elasticity while wholemeal from ecological farming systems resulted in dry bread. High kneading intensity generally resulted in a dry and less elastic bread, which had a significantly stronger tinge or grey on the surface of the slice.

 

Reference:
Haglund, Å., Johansson, L. and Dahlstedt, L. (1998). Sensory evaluation of wholemeal bread from ecologically and conventionally grown wheat. Journal of Cereal Science 27:199-207.