Leguminous proteins as beneficial baking emulsifiers: A comparative study with traditional sucrose ester

In recent years, pursuing healthier and more sustainable food ingredients has increased interest in plant-based alternatives to traditional synthetic emulsifiers. In this study, the properties of five legume proteins: soybean protein isolate (SPI), pea protein isolate (PPI), black bean protein isolate (BBPI), white Canavalia protein isolate (WCAI), and white kidney bean protein isolate (WKBPI) were compared with that of the conventional emulsifier sucrose ester (SE), and add them as emulsifiers to the cake making process. The centrifugal instability index of SPI stabilized emulsion (0.11) was close to that of SE stabilized emulsion (0.08). The foaming performance of WKBPI (85 %) and BBPI (82 %) is 4 times that of SE (20 %).In the simulated cake paste system, the gelatinization temperature of the cake paste with PPI was increased by 0.49 °C compared with that of the blank group and the gelatinization enthalpy decreased by 57.8 % compared with the blank cake paste system. As temperature increases, the viscoelastic curve of the batter with legume protein exhibits an initial decrease followed by a subsequent increase. The above changes are expected to have a positive impact on the quality characteristics of the final baked product. The findings of this study indicated that legume protein could potentially substitute the traditional emulsifier SE.