FTIR-Based Study of Starch Retrogradation and Protein Structure in Chickpea-Enriched Gluten-Free Bread During Storage

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Material Science

Background:

• Gluten-free bread (GFB) often lacks desirable texture and stability.
• Chickpea flour (CF) is explored as a potential ingredient to improve GFB quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of chickpea flour (CF) on the staling properties of gluten-free bread (GFB).
• To compare a 50% CF and 50% rice flour (RF) GFB (CFB) with a control RF bread (RFB).

Main Methods:

• Analysis of color, reflectance, starch and protein structure (FTIR), specific volume, crumb structure, texture, and staling kinetics over 7 days.
• Comparison of CFB with RFB formulation.

Main Results:

• CFB showed darker color, higher starch crystallinity, and more stable protein aggregation than RFB.
• CFB had lower specific volume and porosity, leading to increased hardness and faster staling kinetics.
• Molecular stability in CFB contrasted with macroscopic textural changes.

Conclusions:

• Chickpea flour (CF) improves molecular organization of starch and nutritional value in GFB.
• Macroscopic quality and staling are formulation-dependent, requiring optimization for desirable texture in CFB.
• Balancing molecular stability and textural properties is crucial for CFB development.