Bread‐making performance of wheat flours enriched with vital gluten treated with non‐thermal plasma

Abstract

Vital gluten (VG) is a food ingredient commonly used in bread making, and its quality varies according to its obtainment process. The objective of this study was to verify the performance of VG treated with non-thermal plasma (NTP) at 50 and 150 W and 5 L/min of argon gas as an enhancing ingredient for weak or diluted wheat flour. Quality analyses were performed on dough and bread. Farinographic and alveographic data revealed that VG treatment at 50 W increased the development time (13.49% and 5.80%), stability (9.67% and 0%), tenacity (19.98% and 22.51%) and flour strength (30.48% and 27.13%) in doughs containing 14% and 16% protein respectively. Breads prepared with these flours demonstrated an increase in specific volume by 11.70% and 10.05%, and in the number of alveoli by 5.19% and 15.22% respectively. We concluded that NTP used under adequate conditions can positively modulate the functionality of VG.