Influence of barley, corn and rice flour on physical, chemical and sensory characteristics of gluten-free bread

Abstract

Abstract People suffering from the celiac disease have to apply a strict gluten-free diet because this is the only effective management. Nowadays, the increasing incidence of celiac disease promotes worldwide interests for various desirable gluten free products. As a consequence, food processing researchers have been seeking to develop high-quality gluten-free bread. Cereals having gluten such as wheat must be removed from the diet for the clinical and histological improvement. So, the purpose of this study was to determine the physical, chemical and sensory properties of gluten-free bread produced with barley (T1), corn (T2) and rice (T3) flours instead of wheat flour, using the 1.5 % xanthan gum. The chemical and sensory attributes of bread were evaluated by AOAC method and hedonic test, respectively. Obtained results showed that sample T3 had the highest contents of crude protein (7.94%), ash (2.51%) and carbohydrate (78.31%) as compared to other samples, while fat was lower (2.01%). Regarding moisture, breads prepared with the three different flours were not statistically different at the significance level of p<0.05. However, they differed significantly regarding the specific volume and bake loss. Data also revealed that gluten-free bread, treatment T3 presented the best parameters, being preferred by the sensory evaluation panel, followed by treatment T1 and T2. The overall assessment pointed that the resulting breads treatment T3 was best for all physico-chemical characteristics and, in general, resulted in good sensory behavior, indicating that it could be a promising alternative to wheat flour.