The Chopin Alveograph is a tool for flour quality measurement.[1] It measures the flexibility of the dough produced from the flour, by inflating a bubble in a thin sheet of the dough until it bursts. The resulting values show the strength of the flour, and thus its suitability for different uses.
It was developed in 1920 in France by Marcel Chopin, who named it the Extensimeter.[2]
Developed in the late 1920s in France by Marcel Chopin, the Chopin Alveograph is used in bakery worldwide. The alveographic test enables to measure the tenacity (resilience), the extensibility, and elasticity of a dough (standardized mix of flour and water). This measurement of the strength of flours is considered as a good index of the baking quality of baking flours.
In France, it has been used in regulations since at least 1963 as a criterion in milling for the composition of flours destined to the "french" type bread-baking.[3]
Agronomist Norman Borlaug (Nobel Prize in 1970) used this invention to select varieties of wheat for tropical environments.
The Chopin alveograph is composed of two inseparable elements:
a kneading-machine equipped of an extraction passage which enables the development of the dough and the extraction of it for the preparation of the dough pieces in order to realise the alveographic test.
the alveograph in itself which measures the three-dimensional extension of the piece of dough, which is deformed like a bubble. That extension mode reproduces the deformation of the dough under the influence of the pushing of gas.
Still used nowadays, the Chopin alveograph is manufactured by Chopin Technologies, subsidiary of the KPM Analytics company. They produce a derivative device called the Mixolab which, among other uses, measures the degree of degradation due to pest and fungus, and the protection provided by insecticides and fungicides.[4][5]
