The mechanical behaviour of dough and gluten was studied in an effort to investigate whether bread dough can
be treated as a two phase (starch and gluten) composite material. The dough and gluten show rate dependent behaviour
under tension, compression and shear tests, and non-linear unloading-reloading curves under cyclic compression tests.
There is evidence from cryo-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) that damage in the form of debonding between starch
and gluten occurs when the sample is stretched. A composite finite element model was developed using starch as filler
and gluten as matrix. The interaction between the starch and gluten was modelled as cohesive contact. The finite element
analysis predictions agree with trends seen in experimental test data on dough and gluten, further evidence that debonding
of starch and gluten is a possible damage mechanism in dough.