Cooking quality, biochemical and technological characteristics of bran-enriched pasta obtained by a novel pasta-making process

The present research was focused on the set up of an innovative technological wheat transformation process, based on micronization and air classification of partially debranned kernels, able to naturally increase the potential nutritional value of pasta. The overall aim was to increase the bran content in pasta, without neglecting the palatability aspect. Enriched pasta was obtained from three durum wheat cultivars adding to semolina two different ratio of coarse and fine flour fractions (25 and 50 g/100 g, respectively). Enriched pasta resulted to be increased up to 53% in soluble polyphenols, to 121% in alkylresorcinols and to 64% in arabinoxylans, reaching the values of 138 mu g/g, 206 mu g/g and 3 g/100 g, respectively. Noteworthy, enriched pasta showed an increase up to 113% in dietary fiber (6 g/100 g) and to 20% of resistant starch (0.53 g/100 g), along with a good cooking quality, as determined by sensory analysis. The novel technological process allowed to produce pasta with a high content of bioactive compounds, naturally present in durum wheat, and minimal effects on sensory properties, contributing to satisfy the demand of consumers for healthy natural products. The complete technological process and pasta products are subject of a patent.