Rheology of Rice Flour Dough with Gum Arabic: Small and Large-Deformation Studies, Sensory Assessment and Modeling

The absence of gluten protein makes the rice flour doughs difficult to handle when flattened/sheeted products are to be prepared. The rheological, sensory and microstructural changes in rice flour doughs having gum Arabic (0% to 5%, w/w) and moisture contents (44% to 50%) were studied for improving the dough handling characteristics. Rheological parameters like storage modulus (G') and complex viscosity (η*) decreased with an increase in moisture content while loss angle (δ) increased. A power-law type equation was suitable to relate angular frequency (ω) with G', G", and η* (0.814 ≤ r ≤ 0.999, P ≤ 0.01). An increase in gum and moisture contents increased δ from 6.9° to 15.5° but decreased the energy required for compression/flattening. The 6-element spring-dashpot model was suitable (r ≥ 0.991, P ≤ 0.01) for creep curves. The sensory panel had the opinion that dough with a low to moderate hardness between 3 and 4, and stickiness of ≤ 3.5 was suitable for the purpose of flattening in relation to the preparation of sheeted/flattened products; the appropriate condition for dough formulation was with the moisture and gum contents of 47.0% to 47.9% and 1.55% to 2.25%, respectively to offer the desirability index between 0.50 and 0.52. The microstructure of the rice flour dough in the absence of gum Arabic appeared to possess loosely bound flour particles. The presence of gum provided a coating on flour particles to yield dough having good cohesive microstructure.