Adhesion and cleanability of surfaces in the baker's trade

•Wheat flour soiling removal from textiles depends on surface valleys.•Wheat dough adhesion on textiles depends on the profile's upper half's height Sxp.•Wheat dough adhesion is time-dependent, favoring cotton cloths.•Dough adhesion on conveyor belts can be estimated by their optical appearance.

Several surfaces relevant to the baker's trade were evaluated regarding the normal acceleration needed to remove either wheat flour particles or wheat dough using the centrifuge method. The findings were compared to surface properties and parameters derived by CLSM measurements. Stainless steel sheets of different roughness were found to be strongly adhesive. Conveyor belts appeared to be easily assessable regarding dough adhesion on a visual basis: Shiny surfaces adhere strongest and values scatter the widest, macroscopically structured bands gave lowest and steadiest tensile strength. In proving cloths the critical surface element for dedusting was found to be the valley portion, for easy dough separation it was the maximum height of the surface profile peaks. In both cases cotton appeared to adhere less compared to polyester. Requirements can be accommodated to optimize textiles in use in the baking industry.