Please cite this article as: Marti, A., Cardone, G., Pagani, M.A., Casiraghi, M.C., Flour from sprouted wheat as a new ingredient in bread-making, LWT -Food Science and Technology (2017), doi: 10.1016/ j.lwt.2017 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Despite the nutritional and sensory improvements associated with sprouted grains, 2 their use in baking has been limited until recently. Indeed, severe and uncontrolled 3 grain sprouting induces high accumulations of enzymatic activities that negatively 4 affect dough rheology and baking performance. In this study, wheat was sprouted 5 under controlled conditions and the effects of enrichment (i.e. 15%, 25%, 33%, 50%, 6 75% and 100%) of the related refined flour (SWF) on dough rheological properties, 7 baking performances and starch digestibility were assessed. Adding SWF to flour 8 significantly decreased dough water absorption, development time, and stability 9 during mixing, which suggests a weakening of the gluten network. However, no 10 significant changes in mixing properties and gluten aggregation kinetics were 11 measured from 25 to 75% SWF. Regardless of the amount added, SWF improved 12 dough development and gas production during leavening. Decreases in gas retention 13 did not compromise bread-making performances. The best result -in terms of bread 14 volume and crumb porosity -was obtained with 50% SWF instead of using SWF 15 alone. Interestingly, in 100 % SWF bread the slowly digestible starch fraction 16 significantly increased. 17 M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

27Sprouting is a natural process that enhances the nutritional and sensory profile of 28 cereal-based foods. The present work addressed the possibility of using refined flour 29 from sprouted wheat (SWF) to improve the bread-making performance of some flours 30 in place of conventional improvers -i.e. enzymatic improver (EI) and malt (M). Either 31 0.5% EI or M was added to the control flour (CTRL), as conventionally used in 32 bakeries, whereas SWF was used up to 2%. Unlikely EI and M, 1.5% SWF showed a 33 gluten aggregation strength similar to that of the CTRL, suggesting no worsening of the 34 protein network characteristics. As for the leavening properties, dough development 35increased, thanks to the enrichment with 1.5% SWF. In addition, presence of SWF 36 improved the amount of gas production during leavening-resulting in bread with high 37 specific volume -and the crumb softness during storage. Addition of SWF may 38 represent a valid alternative to enzymatic improvers or malt for improving the 39 technological performance of wheat flours. 40 3

Controlled wheat sprouting is a useful process to achieve the perfect balance between nutritional advantages and technological performance. This study aims at developing a methodology for evaluating wheat sprouting by using a portable NIR device directly on kernels. Wheat kernels were germinated up to 72 h with wet kernels being collected after 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 h and analysed directly or after drying by a MicroNIR in the spectral range of 950-1650 nm. Wholegrain and refined flours from sprouted kernels were investigated for chemical composition, enzymatic activities, starch pasting properties, and gluten aggregation kinetics. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on the whole dataset derived from chemical composition and technological analyses revealed that the main changes occurred within the first 48 h. PCAs on spectral data, both from wet and dried kernels, assessed the effect of sprouting time, both on starch and protein fractions, as observed by conventional analyses on flour. Thus, a NIR portable device can be implemented directly on wet kernels to determine the stage of sprouting, skipping both the drying and refinement steps. Implementing this approach could help the food industry in standardizing and monitoring the sprouting process, delivering novel cereal-based products with guaranteed and consistent characteristics.

BACKGROUND Pre‐harvest sprouting of wheat is viewed negatively because of the high level of enzymatic activity, which leads to a deterioration in the bread‐making performance of the related flours. On the other hand, improvements in bread properties (i.e. volume and crumb softness) are reported when sprouted wheat under controlled conditions is used in mixtures with a conventional unsprouted flour. However, knowledge about the effects of sprouting on gluten functionality and its relationship with bread features is still limited, especially in the case of whole wheat flour. RESULTS Under the conditions applied in this study (48 h, 20 °C and 90% relative humidity), proteins of sprouted wheat were still able to aggregate, even if changes in gluten aggregation kinetics suggested gluten weakening. On the other hand, sprouting led to an increase in gluten stretching ability, suggesting an increase in dough extensibility. In the dough system, sprouting was responsible for a decrease in water absorption, development time, and stability during mixing. However, when the values for development time and water absorption indicated by the Farinograph® were followed carefully, sprouting improved bread height (~20%), specific volume (~15%), and crumb softness (~200% after 24 h of storage), even when whole wheat flour was used. CONCLUSION It is possible to produce bread with improved volume and crumb softness using whole wheat flour from sprouted kernels. Thus, sprouting can be exploited as a pre‐treatment to improve the bread‐making performance of fiber‐enriched systems. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

The impact of 48 h sprouted quinoa (SQ) was assessed in bread-making. Wheat flour (WF) was replaced with SQ at different levels (i.e., 10:90, 20:80 and 30:70, SQ:WF ratio). Once the optimal replacement level of SQ was identified, the bread-making performance of this ingredient was compared with those of pearled quinoa (PQ), commonly used in bread-making. Starch pasting properties and gluten aggregation behavior were not strongly affected at 20:80 level, even if statistically significant (p≤0.05). Regardless the replacement level, SQ caused an increase in dough water absorption and in softening degree, and a decrease in stability, suggesting weakening of the gluten network. During leavening, SQ improved dough development and gas production, due to increased sugar content. The best bread-making performance (highest bread specific volume and lowest crumb firmness) was obtained at 20:80 replacement level. Compared to PQ, SQ exhibited the best leavening capacity (high dough development, gas production and gas retention) and bread properties (high specific volume and low crumb firmness), likely due to its higher sugar content. Moreover, 20SQ bread was characterized by a decreased bitterness assessed by electronic tongue. In conclusion, sprouting might be considered a valid alternative to pearling to improve the characteristics of quinoa enriched bread.