Effect of high pressure processing on sugar-snap cookie dough preservation and cookie quality

Product development and X-Ray microtomography of a traditional white pan bread from plasma functionalized flour

Cold plasma (CP) technology has emerged as a novel non-thermal technology with the potential to improve food quality or impart functionality to ingredients. Our previous studies on wheat flour demonstrated how the structure and functionality of wheat flour might be modified using CP to provide an alternative to chemical additives (Chaple et al., 2020). However, understanding of the further effects of plasma functionalized ingredients in existing or new product formulation is limited. This study investigated the effects of CP treatment of wheat flour on traditional white pan bread development. The bread was formulated using plasma functionalized flour (PFF), and critical product characteristic responses were analyzed. Plasma treatment of flour positively affected the bread's expansion ratio, crust color, and water activity. Farinograph analysis suggests improvement in water absorption capacity, dough development time, and dough stability. X-Ray Microtomography (XRMT) analysis was conducted to understand how plasma functionalising the flour impacted the microstructure of bread. The 3D scans suggested no macro-change in the bread matrix compared to control; however, the porosity decreased in line with the increasing plasma treatment duration of the flour. The texture profile analysis showed an improvement in the gluten network developed in the dough developed from PFF. Sensory analysis results showed overall acceptance for bread formulated with PFF compared with a commercial sample. Overall, CP treatment of the flour improved the functionality in relation to dough and bread preparation and can thus provide an alternative to chemical additives in bread making. The CP processes may be modulated to deliver tailored effects for bread product development.

Novel nonthermal food processing practices: Their influences on nutritional and technological characteristics of cereal proteins

Cereals, as the main crops cultivated and consumed in the world, are a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fiber, and minerals. Despite the nutritional importance, their technological applicability in food matrices is also considerably important to be determined. Cereal processing is done to achieve goals as increasing the shelf‐life, obtaining the desired technological function, and enhancing the nutritional value. Nonthermal processing is preferred regarding its potential to provide beneficial impacts with minimum adverse effect. Technological functionality and nutritional performance are considered as the most basic challenges through cereal processing, with proteins as the main factor to take part in such roles. Technological and nutritional functionalities of proteins have been found to be changed through nonthermal processing, which is generally attributed to conformational and structural changes. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the impact of nonthermal processing on nutritional and technological characteristics of cereal proteins.

Elucidation of the reduced oil uptake of frying batters made from wheat and brown rice flour blends in terms of rheology and surface roughness

BACKGROUND

Negative impressions toward fried foods are prevalent due to their high oil absorption and caloric values. A great deal of effort has been thus made to reduce the oil uptake of fried foods. In this study, the effect of wheat and brown rice flour blends on the oil uptake of frying batters was elucidated in terms of rheology and surface roughness.

RESULTS

The blends with higher proportions of brown rice flour had higher values of pasting parameters and also exhibited a more elastic nature. When a food matrix was deep-fat-fried with frying batters made from wheat and brown rice flour blends, the oil uptake was significantly reduced by 28% compared to wheat flour batter. Based on imaging analysis, the surface properties of the fried crusts were quantitatively measured, demonstrating that the degree of surface roughness distinctly became lower with increasing levels of brown rice flour. Furthermore, the surface roughness parameters (R_a and R_q ) had a strong relationship with the reduced oil uptake. Also, a high proportion of brown rice flour in the blends produced fried samples with a firmer and crispy texture.

CONCLUSIONS

A reduced oil uptake of batter-coated fried foods was distinctly observed with increasing levels of brown rice flour in the blends and well correlated with the degree of surface roughness (R²  > 0.85). © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.