Measurement and mathematical modeling of the relative volume of wheat dough during proofing

Dough is a complex system where yeast cells produce carbon dioxide during the leavening process. Mechanistic models were fitted to measurements of the relative volume of wheat dough during proofing obtained from a Rheofermentometer. The measurements are carried out using 2% and 4% of fresh yeast and proofing temperatures of 28, 32 and 35 °C. The free parameters were the viscosity, a specific CO2 production rate and the number of bubbles. The following assumptions were made: spherical bubbles in the dough liquid, considered to behave as a Newtonian liquid, the applicability of the Bernoulli and ideal gas equations as well as the diffusion theory. The relative volume during proofing was simulated with an average percentage error less than 0.5% and the dependency between volume expansion and calculated CO2 production rate was obtained with an R2 of 0.88.