Effect of Butternut (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne ex Poiret) Fibres on Bread Making, Quality and Staling

Papaya dietary fiber concentrates for providing functionality to muffin formulations

BACKGROUND

Papaya leftovers are a good source of dietary fiber (DF) and antioxidants. They can be transformed in dietary fiber concentrates (DFCs) to be used as ingredients in food formulation, improving consumers' health status.

RESULTS

Using the peel or the pulp of papaya, DFCs were produced. These DFCs were used in muffin production. Muffins produced with 7.7% DFCs and 47.6 g water had the same specific volume (2.0 cm³  g^-1 ) but softer crumb than those obtained with a reference formulation without DF addition, showing average hardness of 15 N. In general, the addition of DFCs of pulp or peel slightly affected other textural profile parameters. Also, non-significant differences were observed for muffins containing pulp or peel DFCs, which showed average values of 10.9 N for chewiness, 0.95 for springiness, 0.76 for cohesiveness and 0.42 for resilience. Regarding the crumb structure, muffins with pulp DFCs showed the lowest value for d_3.2 (1.3 ± 0.3 mm). Meanwhile, the highest anti-radical and reducing capacity, 240 ± 2 and 1050 ± 6 mgeq Trolox g^-1 muffin (dry basis), respectively, were observed in the muffins with peel DFC. Finally, the addition of DFCs allowed us to maintain lower hardness values than those of the reference formulation during the whole storage period studied (22 days). Muffins with peel DFCs tended to have a lower rate of crumb hardening (0.08 ± 0.02) d^-1 .

CONCLUSION

The addition of papaya DFCs to muffin formulations confers interesting properties for industry and consumers, providing functionality, extending the shelf life as well as transforming papaya leftovers in new functional ingredients, contributing to a circular economy. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Natural plant fibers obtained from agricultural residue used as an ingredient in food matrixes or packaging materials: A review

Every year, agrifood activities generate a large amount of plant byproducts, which have a low economical value. However, the valorization of these byproducts can contribute to increasing the intake of dietary fibers and reducing the environmental pollution. This review presents an overview of a wide variety of agricultural wastes applied in the formulation of different food products and sustainable packaging. In general, the incorporation of fibers into bakery, meat, and dairy products was successful, especially at a level of 10% or less. Fibers from a variety of crops improved the consistency, texture, and stability of sauce formulations without affecting sensory quality. In addition, fiber fortification (0.01-6.4%) presented considerable advantages in terms of rheology, texture, melting behavior, and fat replacement of ice cream, but in some cases had a negative impact on color and mouthfeel. In the case of beverages, promising effects on texture, viscosity, stability, and appetite control were obtained by the addition of soluble dietary fibers from grains and fruits with small particle size. Biocomposites used in packaging benefited from reinforcing effects of various plant fiber sources, but the extent of modification depended on the matrix type, fiber pretreatment, and concentration. The information synthesized in this contribution can be used as a tool to screen and select the most promising fiber source, fiber concentration, and pretreatment for specific food applications and sustainable packaging.

Use of different proportions of rice milling fractions as strategy for improving quality parameters and nutritional profile of gluten-free bread

The growing consumer exigency and the lack of gluten-free (GF) bakery products with good technological and nutritional characteristics in the market have increase the need of researching in this area. Few studies have analysed the simultaneous influence of different flour fractions from rice dry milling to formulate GF bread and its effects on rheology and product quality. The aim of this study was to characterize the chemical and physical properties of rice milling fractions (flour, coarse, bran); and to evaluate the effect of these fractions on rheology, and quality of GF bread. High fibre content (31.5%) and good hydration and functional properties demonstrated the suitability of bran for food development. A mixture design with three components was used. Pasting parameters, bread specific volume (BSV), firmness and colour intensity (Chr) responses were fitted to linear and quadratic polynomial models. The presence of bran in the blends reduced almost all pasting parameters. The optimal mixture proportion was flour:coarse:bran (45:35:20), presenting a BSV 1.7 ± 0.1 cm³/g; firmness 0.23 ± 0.01 MPa, and Chr 23.8 ± 0.4. A portion (50 g) of GF bread increased four times the dietary fibre intake. The utilization of different rice fractions to formulate GF bread improved the product quality and enhance the nutritional profile.

Influence of adding steam-exploded apple pomace on wheat flour characteristics and biscuit quality

Apple pomace treated by steam explosion (SE-AP) was mixed with wheat flour, the wheat dough characteristics and biscuit quality are deserved to investigate. In this paper, the characteristics of wheat dough blended with SE-AP, including sedimentation values, pasting properties, and farinographic features were measured; the textural properties and sensory evaluation of the blended biscuits were analyzed. The results showed that the sedimentation values of wheat dough gradually decreased when SE-AP was less than 10%, which was almost no influence on the biscuit quality. The more SE-AP was added, the less values of peak viscosity, trough viscosity and final viscosity, which was disadvantage to the processing quality of wheat flour; however, the values of breakdown and setback increased with the addition of SE-AP, which improved the processing quality. Dough development time, stability time, and farinograph quality number decreased with the addition of SE-AP, which was unfavourable to the quality of wheat flour. When the addition of SE-AP was less than 10%, the hardness of biscuits decreased, springiness and resilience increased, and the chewability improved. According to the texture properties and organoleptic evaluation, the sensor score of the biscuits made from weak-gluten wheat with 10% (m/m) SE-AP added was the highest.

Husks of Zea mays as a potential source of biopolymers for food additives and materials' development

Maize husks, an agricultural and industrial residue generated in a large volume, were investigated as a potential source of useful biopolymers. Thus, their chemical composition was firstly studied, after which two biopolymer products were obtained and characterized. Maize husks were dried and milled, obtaining a 210 μm-main particle size powder (MHP). It contained carotenes (4 mg/100 g), and exhibited antioxidant capacity (≈195 mg ascorbic acid/100 g MHP) coming also from extractable coumaric and cinnamic acids-derivatives (14 mg/100 g). A 31% of the MPH was water-soluble at room temperature, mainly constituted by fructose, glucose, and sorbitol of mesophylls' intracellular origin. The water insoluble fiber (WIF, ≈70%), which showed antioxidant capacity (≈25-33 mg ascorbic acid/100 g WIF), was almost entirely constituted by the cell wall biopolymers or alcohol insoluble residue (AIR) of the MPH, mostly arabinoxylans (≈26%) crosslinked by ferulic residues (18.6 mg/100 g MPH), and cellulose (26%). Low levels of pectins (5.5%) and lignin (7%) were found. Hence, a 1.25%-sulfur nanocellulose (NCC) was directly obtained with sulfuric acid (-15 mV Zeta-potential; 147 °C onset of thermal-degradation) without the necessity of previous delignification. On the other hand, a water soluble arabinoxylan enriched fraction (AX-EF) with pseudoplastic behavior in water and sensibility to calcium ions (≈3 Pa⋅s initial Newtonian-viscosity) was isolated by alkaline hydrolysis of diferulate bridges. Despite a 56% of crystallinity, NCC showed the highest water absorption capacity when compared to that of the AX-EF and AIR. Maize husks constitute an important source of biopolymers for development of materials and food additives/ingredients with relevant hydration and antioxidant properties.

Bread Staling: Updating the View

Staling of bread is cause of significant product waste in the world. We reviewed the literature of the last 10 y with the aim to give an up-to-date overview on processing/storage parameters, antistaling ingredients, sourdough technology, and measurement methods of the staling phenomenon. Many researchers have been focusing their interest on the selection of ingredients able to retard staling, mainly hydrocolloids, waxy wheat flours (WWF), and enzymes, but different efforts have been made to understand the molecular basis of bread staling with the help of various measurement methods. Results obtained confirm the central role of amylopectin retrogradation and water redistribution within the different polymers in determining bread staling, but highlighted also the importance of other flour constituents, such as proteins and nonstarch polysaccharides. Data obtained with thermal, spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray crystallography, and colorimetry analysis have pointed out the need to encourage the use of one or more of these techniques in order to better understand the mechanisms of staling. Results so far obtained have provided new insight on bread staling, but the phenomenon has not been fully elucidated so far.