Use of guar gum and gum Arabic as bread improvers for the production of bakery products from sorghum flour

Abstract

A low tannin sorghum cultivar (Tabat) was used in this study. Sorghum unlike wheat does not contain gluten. It is a potential cereal for people suffering from Celiac disease. For preparation of bakery foods mainly bread the elasticity conferred by gluten in wheat is substituted by the addition of guar gum and gum Arabic. Hence, the objectives of this work were: functional properties of sorghum flours treated with guar gum and/or gum Arabic with intention of manufacture of bakery products. Functional properties considered were protein solubility, least gelation concentration, bulk density, water and oil binding capacity, emulsifying activity, foaming capacity and Farinograph characteristics. Treated samples in general were lower than untreated sorghum except for the bulk density and foaming capacity. The results indicated that acceptable bakery products e.g. bread and pizza could be obtained using 1% (w/w) guar gum with 38% (w/w) gum Arabic and 0.5% (w/w) guar gum with 38% (w/w) gum Arabic, respectively.