Abstract:The influence of the different addition proportions of short-chain， natural and long-chain inulin on water migration in wheat dough was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance（NMR） techniques. And the effect of inulin on the quality of steamed bread was measured by specific volume， extension ratio and TPA， respec－ tively. The results showed that with the increase of three kinds of inulin added， the contents of tightly bound wa－ ter and free water were all increased in the dough， while the loosely bound water content was reduced.The short-chain inulin and natural inulin had more obvious impact on the content of free water of the dough， and the long-chain inulin had more significant influence on the content of tightly bound water. Adding inulin could im－ prove the volume， extension ratio and bring down the hardness and chewiness of steamed bread. Especially， adding 6 % of the long chain inulin could improve the edible quality of steamed bread.