Wheat flour has a wide range of applications in the food industry, with an important economic and nutritional role in the human diet. It is known that the nutritional and technological aspects of wheat flour depend on the cultivation, harvesting, drying and storage conditions of the wheat grains used as raw material. This research aimed at analyzing the technological quality of samples of national and imported wheat grains, as well as of flour samples obtained from them. For this, physical-chemical (moisture, wet gluten, mineral content, falling number, hectoliter weight) and farinographic (water absorption, development time, stability) analyses were carried out. Physical-chemical analyses showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in the mineral content, wet gluten and falling number of the imported and national grain samples, and also among the flour samples obtained from them. Moisture was the only physical-chemical parameter that did not present a significant difference (p < 0.05) among the national and imported samples. Imported wheat grains and their flours presented higher values for wet gluten (28.0-33.4 %) and falling number (322.33-428.33 seconds), when compared to the national samples. Farinographic analyses showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in water absorption, development time and stability among the national and imported wheat flour samples. Moreover, the farinographic analyses presented noteworthy values for water absorption (54.43-59.30 %) and stability (10.0-24.75 minutes) for the imported wheat flours. These results showed a lower technological quality of the national wheat grains and flours studied, when compared to the imported samples, with a negative interference in their industrial use and economic value.
wheat; wheat flour; technological quality
