Formation of acrylamide during baking of shortcrust cookies derived from various flours

Abstract

Asparagine and reducing sugars are the principal acrylamide precursors in foods. Their main sources in pastries are flour and hen egg yolks. The concentrations of asparagine and carbohydrates vary with flour and depend on multiple factors like environmental conditions during the cultivation of cereals and post-harvest processing methods. An objective of this study was finding the interplay between amino acid and carbohydrate profiles of the selected flours and their blends and acrylamide concentrations in the cookies derived from them. Shortcrust cookies were prepared from five different flours such as wheat Poznań flour and flours from spelt-wheat, rice, chickpea, and Amaranth seeds. The rice, chickpea, and amaranth flours were mixed with the wheat Poznań flour in the proportions of 1:1 (w/w), 1:1 (w/w), and 1:3 (w/w), respectively. The cookies were baked at a temperature of 180°C for 10 minutes. It was found that the cookies obtained from the blend of wheat and chickpea flours (1:1, w/w) contained much less acrylamide (5.7 μg/kg) compared to those derived from the wheat Poznań flour only (41.9 μg/kg). The concentrations of reducing sugars and sucrose in the mixture of wheat and chickpea flours were relatively low compared to wheat flour alone. Consequently, the decrease in the concentrations of carbohydrates, which are acrylamide precursors, was the smallest.