The Stern-Technology Centers:
home to Futuremakers
Just a few words are enough to outline Mühlenchemie’s expertise: wheat and flour analysis, flour standardisation and fortification. No one can teach us anything about this in a hurry. Be it in research, development or application. This is what our technicians and enzyme experts, bread, sandwich, tortilla and flatbread bakers and pasta aficionados represent, alongside our state-of-the-art application laboratories in twelve Stern-Technology Centers. This is where we replicate all the stages of the industrial process – from milling the grain to baking, from flour analysis to flour improvement, from flour to pasta. We work hands-on in pilot mills, analytical laboratories and test facilities for bread, pastries, wafers, biscuits and tortillas as well as pasta.
Nothing works
without the application
We calibrate our equipment on a regular basis to guarantee consistent and uniform results all over the world. This is made possible by annual ring tests. This not only allows us to work with the same equipment around the world, but also creates standardised conditions from Latin America and Africa to Europe and Asia.
The ABC of modern laboratory technology:
from analysis to application
A small mill but great service: offers simulation of milling processes to reliably predict suitable flour treatment processes. After the milling process, the flour is analysed and tested in our baking or pasta labs for its application properties in the relevant end products. This enables us to analyse the baking properties of a batch of wheat even before it arrives at the mill and can immediately provide reliable recommendations for suitable flour treatment methods.
The starting point for our work is deep rheological analysis, which is where we determine the rheological properties of flour samples through comprehensive flour analysis. Standardised analytical procedures of the international milling and flour processing industry as well as our own analytical methods allow us to characterise the suitability for use of wheat flours or flour blends. We look at moisture, falling number, gluten and protein content along with many other parameters. It is only when we have a complete picture of the characteristics of the original flour that we develop a strategy for standardising or optimising the flour.
Fully automated analysis procedures. We analyse a wide range of different sample types for enzyme activity and many other parameters – such as optimum temperature and pH conditions – simultaneously using our fully automated photometric enzyme analyser. This is where scientific expertise encounters various state-of-the-art analytical instruments and procedures, including chromatographic analysis to determine the products of an enzymatic reaction.
Precise measurement of vitamin contents. We determine vitamin content with absolute precision using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We use optical emission spectrometry analysis equipment to identify trace elements and undesirable substances such as heavy metals. We also check the active ingredient content of starting materials and the premixes produced with them. Continuous validation of the production process and constant further development of the analytical methods guarantee the high quality of our ELCOvit premixes.
Kneading and rolling out. You can only improve flour if you bake with it too. You cannot treat flour successfully without well-founded flour analysis and practical application techniques. This is why our baking labs are equipped with deck ovens, rotary and ventilated ovens as well as modern kneading systems, climate control cabinets and various rolling-out machines. These enable our baking specialists to work with our customers to develop innovative solutions for flour optimisation and to test whether the selected flour improvers have the desired effect on baking performance. Our technologists can apply the results immediately and make recommendations for the production process that can be implemented directly.
Bundled expertise from Mexico. Our customers love our fully equipped rheology and tortilla lab. This is where we contribute all our technological experience in the product development for the very best tortillas. Using the Micro Combo from Lawrence, one of the leading tortilla lines, we recreate the process for hands-on production. Our Texture Analyser allows us to determine tortilla softness, stretchability and firmness.
Application technology for flatbreads. Strength, extensibility and elasticity – these are key dough properties for flatbreads. We conduct tests in our flatbread lab in India with the help of state-of-the-art farinographs and extensographs. A Glutomatic system helps us to determine the content and quality of the gluten. We evaluate tear resistance and softness during chewing for end products, e.g. parathas. Our enzyme system for flatbreads made from refined flour like paratha is known as SIPA – South Indian Paratha Improver. A second product series has been developed for what is known as roti (or chapati), a wholemeal flatbread consumed on an almost daily basis. Our Technology Centers in Kazakhstan is where we bake the regionally typical lepeshka in our own tandyr oven on the basis of previous flour analyses in order to achieve a high biscuit volume, a uniform shape, lasting freshness and an attractive shine on the surface thanks to our specially developed solutions. Our laboratory in Turkey serves as the first point of contact for developing solutions for the various flatbreads of the Turkish- and Arabic-speaking region.
The colour of pasta can range from honey to lemon yellow, golden orange, green or even reddish. We test the corresponding dye compounds in our pasta laboratory. In the same way, we simulate all further production and drying steps using ultra-modern equipment from Italian manufacturers and operate under near-industrial conditions in our pilot pasta plant to optimise firmness, colour and cooking stability with the help of specific enzyme systems – such as pasta enzyme – and additives. The heart of our pasta laboratory is the new drying oven from Fava, which simulates the complex drying conditions of pasta production in an industrial environment. We can produce up to 70 kilos of pasta in an hour on the pilot plants – with a minimum quantity of just 3 to 15 kilos. This bridges the gap between laboratory and production scale.
Meet the Flourists
