The water absorption capacity of dough depends mainly on the flour composition,
and increases with increasing protein, pentosan and damaged starch content.
The association between the quantity of damaged starch and the water absorption capacity of flour has been
established (Dexter et al., 1994).
Studies have been also performed with pregelatinized starches,which show a similar behaviour to damaged starch because the starch granules break down during this process. Based on these findings, Miller et al.
(2008) investigated the possibility of increasing bread output through the addition of certain pregelatinized (hydroxypropylated and cross-linked) wheat starches, with good results.
The addition of heat-moisture treated maize starch has been also studied, although in this case the breads obtained were of low quality (Miyazaki and Morita, 2005).
Another possible way to increase output during bread-making consists of the addition of hydrocolloids, due to their high water absorption capacity; however,hydrocolloids produce major alterations in other characteristics of breads and doughs (Rosell et al., 2001).