Influence of bread‐making method, genotype, and growing location on whole‐wheat bread quality in hard red spring wheat

Background and objectives Experimental bread‐making is essential in wheat quality evaluation. This research examined three different types of bread‐making methods, sponge‐and‐dough (SpD), straight‐dough (StD), and no‐time dough (NoD) methods, to identify a suitable method to evaluate whole‐wheat flour (WWF) bread‐making quality for diverse hard red spring (HRS) wheat samples. Findings The StD method, and to a lesser extent NoD, showed higher variation among WWF samples for bread‐making traits. On the contrary, SpD bread quality traits were more similar among WWF samples. When the StD method was used to evaluate 21 HRS wheat genotypes grown at six locations in North Dakota, most WWF bread‐making quality traits varied significantly among genotypes and growing locations. Specifically, the HRS genotypes showed relatively high variability for the bread loaf volume and symmetry, while growing locations contributed largely to the variability of the baking water absorption. Conclusions The StD method was suitable to evaluate the variability of WWF bread‐making quality traits among HRS wheat genotypes grown at various growing locations in North Dakota. Significance and novelty The research identified an experimental bread‐making procedure that is useful for the evaluation of the WWF bread‐making quality in HRS wheat breeding programs. The information will help segregate high‐quality HRS genotypes in plant breeding programs.