Einkorn, from kernel to bread: technological and nutritional aspects

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum) is an ancient wheat, strictly related to durum and common wheat, regarded as a high-nutritional value cereal, for its high proteins (15.5-22.8%dm), carotenoids (5.7-13.6 μg/g dm) and tocols (61.4-115.8 μg/g dm) content. Current trends towards low-impact and sustainable agriculture as well as an increase in the utilisation of ‘‘functional’’ products suggest that this cereal may still play a role in human consumption. To better understand the potential of this ancient wheat, two einkorn accessions (cv Monlis and ID1395) were considered, and their properties were evaluated starting from the kernels (hectoliter weight, 1000 kernels weight, etc.), going on with flours (milling yield, chemical composition, gliadins to glutenin ratio, SDS sedimentation, enzymatic activities, pasting properties; lutein content), dough and bread properties evaluation (height, specific volume, moisture, crumb cells size, crumb hardness, lutein content and heat damage indices, etc.), both after baking and during storage. A bread wheat (cv Blasco) was the reference. Einkorn breads were characterized by similar or higher specific volumes than wheat bread, a higher amount of alveoli (and of bigger size), and a softer crumb in spite of the lower moisture content. The same trend was observed even after 52 hours of storage at 25°C and 60% RU. This behaviour could be ascribed to the higher amount of protein (involving the lower presence of starch) and fiber (due to the less refined einkorn flours) in einkorn bread, all fundamental factors in slowing down the bread staling phenomena. From einkorn flour to bread, a decrease in the lutein content was observed, as a consequence of the technological process; however, the residual amount of this important component was significantly (p<0.05) much higher in einkorn breads in comparison to the reference bread.