Chopin alveograph

The Chopin Alveograph is a tool for flour quality measurement.[1] It measures the flexibility of the dough produced from the flour, by inflating a bubble in a thin sheet of the dough until it bursts. The resulting values show the strength of the flour, and thus its suitability for different uses.

It was developed in 1920 in France by Marcel Chopin, who named it the Extensimeter.[2]

History

Developed in the late 1920s in France by Marcel Chopin, the Chopin Alveograph is used in bakery worldwide. The alveographic test enables to measure the tenacity (resilience), the extensibility, and elasticity of a dough (standardized mix of flour and water). This measurement of the strength of flours is considered as a good index of the baking quality of baking flours.

In France, it has been used in regulations since at least 1963 as a criterion in milling for the composition of flours destined to the "french" type bread-baking.[3]

Agronomist Norman Borlaug (Nobel Prize in 1970) used this invention to select varieties of wheat for tropical environments.

Description

The Chopin alveograph is composed of two inseparable elements:

  • a kneading-machine equipped of an extraction passage which enables the development of the dough and the extraction of it for the preparation of the dough pieces in order to realise the alveographic test.
  • the alveograph in itself which measures the three-dimensional extension of the piece of dough, which is deformed like a bubble. That extension mode reproduces the deformation of the dough under the influence of the pushing of gas.

Still used nowadays, the Chopin alveograph is manufactured by Chopin Technologies, subsidiary of the KPM Analytics company. They produce a derivative device called the Mixolab which, among other uses, measures the degree of degradation due to pest and fungus, and the protection provided by insecticides and fungicides.[4][5]

Usage Protocol

Calibration

1. Press the button 60/92

2. Place the calibrator and tighten the lock screw.

3. Open the valve to the maximum

4. Launch the air by pressing button 92/60

5. Adjust the high pression on 92 with the arrow, then press ok

6. Adjust the low pression on 60 with the valve

Experience

1. Press on the green graph

2. Select the little note at top right to settle parameters

3. Pour 250g of the sample

4. Fill the burette with salt solution (2.5%) function of the flour humidity

5. Start the chronometer by pressing the green button

6. Open to the maximum the burette overhead the hole of the tank

0 → 1 min 30 1 min 30 → 3 min 3 min → 8 min
Oil the exit tray and the platelets Fill the burette et weigh the 250g for the next experience Indicate the data of the next sample

7. At the end of the two first periods, stop the arm at the bottom of the tank by pressing the red button and scrape off the flour

8. At 8 min, press on the arrow

9. Remove the first centimeter of the emerging dough

10. When the dough arrives at the level of the notches, cut the dough and flatten it with the rolling mill.

11. Re-oil the tray between every dough pieces

12. Cut a circle with the die-cutter and place in the oven

13. At the last dough, press the red button first and the arrow

14. Clean the tank

15. At 28 min, press a long time on the 1 to reset the chronometer

16. Center the dough, place the two covers, tighten the lock screw and remove the two covers

17. Press the red/green button then press again when the bubble bursts.

Bibliography
  • Chopin, Marcel, Cinquante années de recherches relatives aux blés et à leur utilisation industrielle, Boulogne, 1973. OCLC 463088833

References
  1. Edwards, W. P. (2007). "5: Flour testing". The Science of Bakery Products. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-85404-486-3.
  2. "Alveograph". Practically edible. 2009. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  3. "Décret n° 63-720 du 13 juillet 1963 relatif à la composition des farines de blé, de seigle et de méteil". Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et décrets n° 0169 du 20/07/1963. 169: 6722. 20 July 1963.
  4. Alconada, T. M.; Moure, M. C.; Ortega, L. M. (2019-08-26). "Fusarium infection in wheat, aggressiveness and changes in grain quality: a review". Vegetos. Springer. 32 (4): 441–449. doi:10.1007/s42535-019-00054-z. ISSN 2229-4473. S2CID 202852205.
  5. Parenti, Ottavia; Guerrini, Lorenzo; Mompin, Sara Bossa; Toldrà, Mònica; Zanoni, Bruno (2021). "The determination of bread dough readiness during kneading of wheat flour: A review of the available methods". Journal of Food Engineering. International Society of Food Engineering (Elsevier). 309: 110692. doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2021.110692. ISSN 0260-8774.
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