Good aftetnoon.
I would like to ask about the mixing of petit beurre biscuits, we have double z mixer, with two speeds.
I have received different recommendations about the right mixing time, some said 20 minutes, some said 25 minutes.
Also, is there a relationship between the mixing time and the hard bite of biscuits, as I have told that mixing for long time will give hard bite after baking.
How can we know that the mixing is ok, and we not need more?.
Should we use high speed mixing, or low speed mixing to avoid hard bite biscuit, or both of them is ok.
What is the normal rate of temperature increase while mixing, I mean for example the temperature will increase by 1°c every 1.5 minutes. Knowing that the temperature of the raw materials is about 29°c these days.
Thank you in advance
Hi Mohammed,
The speed of the mixer doesnt effect the finnished dough only the time taken to fully mix it. Slow speed is usually used to blend the ingredients together and prevent the flour from spilling out of the mixer. Once the ingredients are blended together switch to high speed and the mixing time should be about 12 - 14 minutes. Once the dough temperature reaches 40C check the extensibility if it shrinks back mix longer but dont exceed a temperature of 42C.
If you have some pictures of the bisuits showing the internal texture it would help, also if you have any details on the protein level of the flour used it would be usefull to review it as bread type flours will result in a harder texture.
Dear Mr. Andrew Hughes,
Thanks for your reply.
Kindly see attached a picture showing the biscuit internal structure.
About the flour protein, I will ask the flour mill about the wheat flour data sheet.
What happens sometimes, is that the temperature of the dough is approximately the same for minutes, and to achieve the target that the temperature should reach 40°c, we add some water so the temperature start increasing. Is this is right? Or may we got good dough without arriving the 40°c. As adding water will make softer dough.
About the flour it is not bread flour, but I don't have the data sheet of it.
Dear Mohamad,
Mixing Hard dough is not big deal. Major is water absorption quality of the wheat flour and your mix time. For Hard dough variants you can mix the mixer at blade rpm of 40-45rpm for about 8-10mts according to the wheat flour quality and dough temperature. I am telling about after wheat flour addition. You can add sms after one minute mixing.
When you start mixing after addition of wheat flour, during mechanical action on the flour and water You please start observing load taken by motor by amps meter in one of the phase. After one minute you add sms and start observing. In the load meter amps will increase and when mixing is completed you can see load taken by mixer getting fluctuating in definite reading. Here at that time You can see the mixing consistency and if you are satisfied with mixing you can fix it. Or on safer side you can do one more minute and stop the mixing. This way you can fix mixing time. If you find at this mix time softer mixing in next mixing you reduce water accordingly and set the process. Please revert any doubt. But you need ampere meter to fix this. This way you can save electricity also due to more mixing time. Next please fix the mixer blade rpm between 40-45
Dear Mr. Andrew Hughes,
Thanks for your reply, in your message you asked me about the protein level in the wheat flour, kindly find below the wheat flour test
Moisture 14
Ash 0.58
Gluten 22
Index 95
Protein 10.5
Falling number 450
Please send me if the characteristics above need to be changed as the mill can give us another type of flour depending on the requirements.
Best Regards