Gluten-free baked foods with extended shelf-life

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a formulation that can retard staling/retrogradation of cheese breads without compromising their texture and expansion properties. During baking the dough expands and becomes soft, with lower density. Binary mixtures of cassava starch (Native + Oxidized) and with guar gum (Oxidized + Guar Gum) as well as a ternary mixture (Native + Oxidized + Guar Gum) were prepared. The mixtures were analyzed for freeze–thaw stability, expansion, pasting, thermal structural and retrogradation properties. The results were compared with those of sour cassava starch (polvilho azedo—PA), native cassava starch (N) and oxidized cassava starch (O). Moreover, cheese breads were prepared with these mixtures and evaluated during storage. The ternary mixture N + O + GG showed superior freeze–thaw stability (syneresis of 4.9, 7.8 and 11.0% in 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles, respectively); the low retrogradation of this sample was confirmed both by DSC and FTIR analyses. The sample N + O + GG had a high expansion (> 10 mL/g) and the cheese breads developed with this mixture had a slower staling. Our results confirmed that the mixture N + O + GG can improve formulations of gluten-free baked foods.