Mixing properties of fibre-enriched wheat bread doughs: A response surface methodology study

Fibre-enriched baked goods have increasingly become a convenient carrier for dietary fibre. However, the detrimental effect of fibres on dough rheology and bread quality continuously encourages food technologists to look for new fibres. The effect of several fibres (Fibruline, Fibrex, Exafine and Swelite) from different sources (chicory roots, sugar beet and pea) on dough mixing properties when added singly or in combination has been investigated by applying a response surface methodology to a Draper-Lin small composite design of fibre-enriched wheat dough samples. Major effects were induced on water absorption by Fibrex that led to a significant increase of this parameter, accompanied by a softening effect on the dough, more noticeable when an excess of mixing was applied. Conversely, Exafine increased water absorption without affecting the consistency and stability of dough, which even improved when combined with Swelite. Fibruline showed little effect on dough mixing parameters, but showed synergistic effects with pea fibres. The overall result indicates that the use of an optimised combination of fibres in the formulation of fibre-enriched dough allow improving dough functionality during processing.