Characterizing the Rheological and Bread-Making Properties of Wheat Flour Treated by Gluten Friendly™ Technology

After discovering an innovative technology for the reshaping of gluten proteins-the Gluten Friendly(TM) system-that confers to wheat flour some unprecedented characteristics, such as reduced epitope antigenicity and a positive modulation of the gut microbiota, its effects on the production and quality of bread have been studied. Mainly, we have investigated the chemical, rheological and pasting properties of Gluten Friendly Flour (GFF) and of control flour (CF) with the aim of analyzing and interpreting potential differences. Furthermore, the bread made from GFF and CF was evaluated in terms of microstructure properties and sensory quality. The experiments demonstrated that GFF became soluble in aqueous solution, making it unfeasible to isolate using the Glutomatic apparatus. Although the water absorption of GFF increased by 10% compared to CF, dough elasticity was reduced, and dough stability decreased from 5 to 2 min. A significant increase in the alveograph index (P/L) from 0.63 to 6.31 was detected, whereas pasting properties did not change from the control flour. Despite these profound modifications in the rheological properties, GFF exhibited a high ability to shape dough and to produce bread with high quality and negligible differences from the control bread in terms of appearance, taste, aroma, color and texture.

Automated summary

The innovative technology of the Gluten Friendly(TM) system has improved the texture properties of bread ingredients and enhanced the quality of bread, making the bread-making process easier. Despite significant changes in rheological properties, the resulting bread from Gluten Friendly Flour (GFF) exhibited high quality with minimal differences from the control bread in terms of appearance, taste, aroma, color, and texture.