Wheat flour lipids

Most bread wheat is milled into flour and bran for human consumption, but substantial quantities are also used to feed livestock and poultry. The major components of wheat flour are protein (approximately 10%–12%) and starch (approximately 70–75%), and the minor components are polysaccharides (approximately 2-3%) and lipids (approximately 2 – 2.5%%)

Lipid is the component of wheat flour which, when varied, produces the greatest changes, on a weight basis, in characteristics such as loaf volume and texture. The majority of the lipids in wheat are fatty acid (FA) esters of glycerol, and the remainder include free (unesterified) fatty acids (FFA) and several types of sterol-based lipids and glycosphingolipids.

The total lipid content in the whole grain and in its parts is uniform and is not characteristic of particular wheat varieties. The sum of polar and non-polar lipids content in flour is almost equal to the total lipid content, but the differences are greater in bran, sieving by-products and germs.

Wheat flour lipid, although only constituting about 2 – 2.5% by weight of flour makes important contributions to dough properties, baking behavior and bread staling. They are considered to have significant impacts on flour and dough functionality, by interacting with gluten proteins and starch and by stabilizing gas cells in breadmaking.
Wheat flour lipids