Prediction of Rheological Properties of Flour From Physicochemical Properties Using Multiple Regression Techniques and Artificial Neuronal Networks

This study has two main objectives: (i) to determine the physicochemical and rheological properties of different flours and (ii) to estimate the alveograph parameters obtained as a result of experimental studies. In this context, physicochemical (protein, ash, falling number, wet gluten, gluten index, Zeleny, and delayed sedimentation) and alveograph parameters (P, L, G, W, P/L, and IE) of 150 different bread and pastry flours were determined. Multiple regression analysis (MRA) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods were then used to predict alveograph results from this experimentally obtained data set. Root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), Nash-Sutcliffe (NSEC), and relative error (RE) performance statistics were used to evaluate the CS prediction capabilities of the methods. It was found that the flours were in the range of 11.01%–13.82% protein, 325–403 s falling number, and 30–61 mL Zeleny and delayed sedimentation values. The ANN method showed better predictive performance than the regression-based method. W was the best estimated parameter in the ANN model. This was followed by G, L, Ie, P/L, and P values. Considering the RMSE value of the W parameter, it was observed that the ANN method provided an improvement of 5.16, 1.76, and 2.15 times compared to the regression method for the training, validation, and test sets, respectively.