Technological Properties and Consumer Acceptability of Bakery Products Enriched with Brewers' Spent Grains

Nowadays, brewers’ spent grains (BSG) is considered the most abundant and low-cost brewing by-products, presenting a great potential as a functional food ingredient. Since BSG is rich in dietary fiber and protein, it can be a raw material of interest in bakery products. However, blending wheat flour with BSG can affect dough rheology and the structural and sensorial properties of products. In this context, BSG flour at different levels (0%, 5%, and 10%) was used to enrich three commercial soft wheat flours, and to develop new formulations for bakery products (bread, breadsticks and pizza). As expected, the enrichment caused a significant increase of proteins, dietary fibers, lipids, and ash related to the BSG enrichment level. Significant changes in dough rheological properties (e.g., higher water absorption, lower development time and stability, dough strength, and tenacity) and in the color of the crust and crumbs of bakery products were also observed. At last, the consumer test pointed out that the 5% BSG enrichment showed the higher overall acceptability of proposed bakery products.

Role of NaCl level on the handling and water mobility in dough prepared from four wheat cultivars

In bread, NaCl plays a number of roles including improving flavor, functionality, dough handling, and prevention of sticky dough. Its reduction can create significant processing challenges. As such, the dough handling properties for four wheat cultivars (Pembina, Roblin, McKenzie, and Harvest) were investigated as a function of NaCl (0-4%) level. In terms of dough rheology, both cultivar and NaCl level were significant factors. The maximum deformation (J_max ) in the dough decreased with increasing NaCl levels, indicating that the gluten network became stronger so that it was able to resist the imposed stress. For extensibility, increasing the levels of NaCl resulted in increased resistance to extension for all cultivars. Dough stickiness was shown to be both cultivar and salt level dependent, with weaker cultivars showing higher stickiness. Findings for water association indicated that with the addition of NaCl there was less free water among the different cultivars and an increase in the water associated with the starch-fraction. Dough morphology measurements supported rheology trends; the stronger dough producing cultivars created more elongated protein polymers with a unidirectional network whereas the weaker cultivars created porous multidirectional networks. Overall, Pembina and Roblin formed stronger gluten networks than McKenzie and Harvest, however, the effect of NaCl level was shown to be cultivar dependent. Findings indicate that careful cultivar selection will help mitigate challenges in dough handling within a reduced NaCl environment.