Abstract

The present invention provides methods for improving the baking properties of cake flour using either high intensity dielectric heating, (10 GHz to 3 MHz) and/or radio frequency heating (300 MHz to 3 MHz). The treated cake flour is intended as a substitute for chlorinated cake flour. The present unchlorinated, dielectrically heated treated cake flour is an essential ingredient in dry mixes for batter baked goods especially high sugar-to-flour ratio layer cakes. In addition to other dry mix ingredients, preferred dry mixes additionally essentially comprise about 0.15% to 0.45% triglycerol monostearate for even greater enhancement of finished baked goods' volume. The method comprises exposing cake flour having a moisture content of >8% to sufficient amounts of radio frequency energy to heat the flour to a temperature of about 230° to 270° F. and to a finished moisture content of less than 6%. Preferred radio frequency heated flours are additionally characterized by a peak pasting viscosity of at least 350 Stir Number Units. In another aspect, a second method has been found that can obtain cake flours having a Stir Number Unit value of >400.

Other References

• Effects of Microwave Radiation and Storage On Hard Red Spring Wheat Flour, Cereal Chemistry 58(1):53-56, 1981
• Chemical Abstracts, 77(23): 150661 v, abstracting Aref et al. "Inactivation of alpha amylase in wheat flour with microwaves," J. Microwave Power, 7(3), 215-21 (Eng) 197