Fortification of durum wheat spaghetti and common wheat bread with wheat bran protein concentrate-impacts on nutrition and technological properties

Plant industrial by-products have generally low value but can be a good source of nutritional compounds. Wheat bran is the main by-product of wheat milling and contains > 15% high-quality proteins. Extraction of wheat bran proteins (WBPC) and inclusion in spaghetti and bread formulations was studied to determine if the nutritional properties of these foods could be enhanced without deleterious effects on quality. Semolina was substituted with WBPC at 0, 1, 5, 10 and 20% (w/w) and made into spaghetti and a commercial bread flour was substituted with WBPC at 0, 1, 5 and 10% w/w and made into bread. Both spaghetti protein content (12.3 to 23.4%) and total essential amino acids (3.76 to 7.59%) increased with added WBPC. Overall spaghetti quality was acceptable up to 10% WBPC and superior to wholemeal, especially in appearance. However, the bread formulation used was very sensitive to WBPC especially above 1% addition.

Automated summary

Plant industrial by-products, such as wheat bran proteins, can enhance the nutritional properties of foods like spaghetti without compromising quality. However, the addition of wheat bran proteins had a more significant impact on bread quality, making it more sensitive to formulations above 1% addition.