It has been reported that durum wheat baking performance
improves as gluten becomes stronger, but loaf volumes achieved for the best performing durum wheat
cultivars are substantially lower than for bread wheat.
Many studies acknowledged the inferior baking
potential of durum wheat, and focused on improving baking performance by blending durum wheat with
common wheat [1]. There is considerable interest in developing durum wheat suitable for both bread making
and pasta-making [2]. Dual-purpose durum wheat is a desirable goal because such cultivars would
have alternative markets in years of high production, and could be used in place of bread wheat either
alone or in blends with high quality baking flour [3].