Improving health-promoting properties, such as fiber content, in wheat will not be effective in promoting consumer health if people do not like the final product, the bread. People want to eat bread that has a pleasant flavor, which is influenced by its texture, taste and aroma. Fourteen modern wheat cultivars and 66 landraces from Switzerland were investigated for their agronomical value (yield, lodging resistance, disease resistance, specific weight, thousand kernel weight), for their bread-making quality (Zeleny sedimentation test, protein and gluten content, bread volume, rheological dough quality determined by amylograph, farinograph and extensograph values), for their fiber content (soluble and insoluble) and for their texture, taste and aroma in the final product (sensory analyses by consumer and professional panels). To allow a strong aroma development, the bread was produced with flour type 1200 and long fermentation time (9 hours). We found differences in agronomical values, flavor assessment, rheological dough quality and fiber content between the varieties. Landraces and modern cultivars were thus rated for best flavor, best rheological quality and high fiber content. The main weaknesses of landraces were their low lodging resistance and low yield. We found a good correlation between the two assessing panels. Many varieties were greatly appreciated for their flavor. The rheological tests showed the landraces on average to have a more extensible dough and a slightly higher gluten content than the modern cultivars. Good correlations were also found between total fiber content, Zeleny sedimentation and bread volume. The highest total fiber content was found in three modern cultivars. The range for bread-making quality was quite large for the landraces. We selected the varieties with good panel results, good agronomy, high fiber content and good bread-making quality to produce hybrids. In each cross, the modern cultivar is intended to improve the weakness of the landrace. Twenty crosses will be used for developing new cultivars. In parallel, mixing F2 grains from crosses will result in a “good flavor and high fiber” population. This population will evolve under various conditions, through on-farm breeding. In the long run, we expect this population to produce new, locally adapted landraces.
