Whey is discarded in large volumes every year as a by-product of cheesemaking, despite its considerable nutritional value, which raises the question of whether it could be put to better use in food production rather than treated as an environmental pollutant. In this study, the water added during bread dough mixing was replaced with whey at levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, and the resulting loaves were evaluated for their physical properties (volume, weight, height, specific volume and Pelshenke fermentation time) alongside the rheological behaviour of the dough as measured by the alveograph. Loaf volume rose steadily from 1340 cm³ in the control to 1410 cm³ at full substitution, and weight increased in parallel from 495.66 g to 509.33 g, with both differences significant at p≤0.05; height and specific volume, however, were not significantly affected by the substitution level. Pelshenke time increased only slightly with higher whey content, from 130.33 to 132.33 minutes. On the rheological side, dough resistance to deformation (P) and deformation energy (W) improved markedly at full substitution, while extensibility (L) and the swelling index (G) remained fairly stable across treatments, and the P/L balance ratio rose sharply at 100% whey. Correlation analysis showed a very strong positive relationship between volume and weight (r²=0.99) and between W and P (r²=0.99), against a comparatively weak association between L and specific volume (r²=0.32). Taken together, these findings support the use of whey as a partial or full water substitute in breadmaking without compromising the physical and rheological quality of the product, and in several respects even improving it.
Keywords: Whey; Bread; Rheological properties; Alveograph; Physical properties; Pelshenke test.
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