22 Biscuit, cookie and cracker manufacturing manuals associated thickness of the dough during baking, particularly on steel oven bands. Flours with higher water absorption characters such as heat treated flour, reduce spread. Other ways of adjusting the spread of short doughs are discussed in Manual 4 Baking and cooling of biscuits Wafers- batter for wafers may become stringy during mixing due to the formation of gluten strands These will block sieves and depositor nozzles if not removed or prevented. Try using very cold water for the batter mix to delay the gluten formation until the flour is completely dispersed in the water. If the flour protein content is high at the desired weight after baking, the wafers will tend to be hard eating and conversely if the protein is very low the wafers will be very soft and fragile 4.2.4 Delivery and quality testing of flour Flour is delivered either in multiwalled paper bags (usually 32 or 50kg gross weight) or in reusable sacks of hessian or plastic weave or in bulk tankers. The tankers are filled by gravity at the mill and are unloaded at the biscuit factory pneumatically. This means that air is blown through a pipe from a pump(either land based at the factory or driven by the tanker motor) to the top of the flour silo. The flour is extracted from the tanker by being dropped into the air stream The flour is separated from the air in the silo by gravity and filtration. The filters are mechanically shaken periodically to let material trapped fall back into the silo The moisture content of the flour will be affected slightly by the pneumatic handling because the blown air from the pump will b warm and there is a large volume of air relative to the mass of the flour being conveyed. Flour should be tested before it is used in the factory to check that it is of the specification required. In the case of bagged flour the test can be made at any time between delivery and use For bulk flour it is best to make the check before the tanker is discharged because it is very difficult to return the flour to the supplier if it is later found to wrong! Therefore, before the tanker discharges, a good sized sample should be taken from the top of the load. Enough flour should be taken for any tests that may be required and some should be kept as a reference in the laboratory until it is certain that all of that delivery has been used in the factory. The principal reason for22 Biscuit, cookie and cracker manufacturing manuals associated thickness of the dough during baking, particularly on steel oven bands. Flours with higher water absorption characters, such as heat treated flour, reduce spread. Other ways and means of adjusting the spread of short doughs are discussed in Manual 4, Baking and cooling of biscuits. Wafers - batter for wafers may become stringy during mixing due to the formation of gluten strands. These will block sieves and depositor nozzles if not removed or prevented. Try using very cold water for the batter mix to delay the gluten formation until the flour is completely dispersed in the water. If the flour protein content is high at the desired weight after baking, the wafers will tend to be hard eating and conversely if the protein is very low the wafers will be very soft and fragile. 4.2.4 Delivery and quality testing of flour Flour is delivered either in multiwalled paper bags (usually 32 or 50 kg gross weight) or in reusable sacks of hessian or plastic weave or in bulk tankers. The tankers are filled by gravity at the mill and are unloaded at the biscuit factory pneumatically. This means that air is blown through a pipe from a pump (either land based at the factory or driven by the tanker motor) to the top of the flour silo. The flour is extracted from the tanker by being dropped into the air stream. The flour is separated from the air in the silo by gravity and filtration. The filters are mechanically shaken periodically to let material trapped fall back into the silo. The moisture content of the flour will be affected slightly by the pneumatic handling because the blown air from the pump will be warm and there is a large volume of air relative to the mass of the flour being conveyed. Flour should be tested before it is used in the factory to check that it is of the specification required. In the case of bagged flour the test can be made at any time between delivery and use. For bulk flour it is best to make the check before the tanker is discharged because it is very difficult to return the flour to the supplier if it is later found to be wrong! Therefore, before the tanker discharges, a good sized sample should be taken from the top of the load. Enough flour should be taken for any tests that may be required and some should be kept as a reference in the laboratory until it is certain that all of that delivery has been used in the factory. The principal reason for