Elsevier

Journal of Cereal Science

Volume 67, January 2016, Pages 68-74
Journal of Cereal Science

Changing flour functionality through physical treatments for the production of gluten-free baking goods

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2015.07.009Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The role of physically modified flour in non-gluten cereal-based foods was reviewed.

  • The influence of particle size and the fine grinding and air classification was discussed.

  • The effect of thermal treated flours on gluten-free goods has also been approached.

  • A proper selection of physical processing conditions can improve gluten-free products.

Abstract

It is common to fall back on the use of gluten-free flour from cereal, or from other grains, such as legumes or pseudocereals for gluten-free products development. Traditionally, the industry has approached the use of native flours, without modification, whose properties depend on grain characteristics and composition as well as the milling system used. Nevertheless, flours obtained from traditional methods can be subjected to different physical treatments, which range from a simple sieving to complex hydrothermal treatments which can modify flour functionality and their adequacy to the different gluten-free elaborations. In this review, the different physical modifications can be submitted to flours and the way they change flour functionality have been analysed. Thereby, the influence of flour particle size, fine grinding and air classification processes, and the different modalities of dry and wet thermal treatments on flour properties have been discussed. The review concludes by explaining the utility and the potential uses of these physical treatments on gluten-free products.

Introduction

Many bakery products are manufactured with wheat flour in occidental countries. In some cases, during processing, gluten network is formed when wheat proteins are hydrated and subjected to mechanical work, playing a key part in the development and final quality of these products. Breads and other fermented doughs are clear examples. Nevertheless, in other cases, due to either the lack of hydration or mechanical work, gluten network is not created and its role is not indispensable for the development of products such as cakes or cookies. In order to make gluten-free bakery products, a common practice is to use starch-based materials. Corn or tuber starches and corn and rice flours are the most used (O'Shea et al., 2014), although recently an increasing interest in other gluten-free flours such as teff, sorghum, millet, buckwheat, quinoa or amaranth has been observed. Added to that, wheat starch and oat flour, as long as they are produced under conditions which guarantee the absence of gluten, have also been taken into account. When the development of a gluten network plays an important role, the use of a gluten replacer is common, for what is typical to incorporate hydrocolloids.

Section snippets

Particle size classification

In general, research on the development of gluten-free products does not go into depth on the characteristics of flours or starches for their adequacy to each of the bakery products. However, it is demonstrated that these characteristics have a strong influence on the quality of the final product. Thereby, apart from some characteristics which can be influenced by the genetic or cropping conditions, such as protein content or amylose/amylopectin ratio of starch, other features can be modified

Fine grinding and air classification

Once having obtained flour, this can be subjected to different physical treatments with the aim to achieve flours with different functionality and nutritional composition. One of the most interesting physical treatments is micronization (fine grinding) and the subsequent air classification. This treatment includes reducing the particle size of flour considerably, which could modify flour functionality by itself and make them more suitable for different processes. Nevertheless, the current

Thermal treatments

Flour can also be subjected to thermal treatments of different intensity. A simple heating process can produce flour dehydration, which could be necessary to preserve flours for longer periods, especially in the case of flours with moisture higher than 15%. In addition, as a consequence of the drying treatment, sometimes flour functionality can be modified. Thereby, thermal treatments, depending on their severity, can modify starch granules, denature proteins, inactivate enzymes, reduce

Conclusions

Gluten-free flour can be physically modified through different milling systems, particle size classification and a variety of thermal treatments. On one hand these treatments are applied in order to stabilise the flour and increase its shelf life whereas on the other hand new functionalities are pursued. Thereby, the flour obtained after these treatments differs in their functional properties, such as water absorption capacity, thickening power, emulsifying properties, pasting properties and

Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Sustainability (Project AGL2011-23802) and Junta de Castilla y León (Project VA054A12-2). MM Martínez would like to thank predoctoral fellowship from Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.

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