Physicochemical, sensory properties and starch in vitro digestion of gluten-free breads

The physicochemical (volume, crumb grain and color), sensory and starch in vitro digestion properties were investigated in four gluten-free breads, produced using gluten-free commercial mixes. Different mixes' formulations and processing parameters led to the production of breads with different crumb grain, specific volume, crust and crumb color, which affected product's sensory acceptability. Generally, more heterogeneous and coarser crumb grain and darker color were more appreciated by the judges. Nutritional composition of gluten-free breads differed mainly for starch and lipids contents, due to a wide variety of ingredients used in breads formulations. Starch availability to hydrolytic enzymes in the gluten-free breads was not influenced by variation in ingredients and nutritional composition, but it was related to the physical structure in terms of specific volume. The higher was the specific volume, the higher was the starch-digested fraction.