Sprouted wheat as an alternative to conventional flour improvers

Sprouting is a natural process, which can be exploited by food scientists and industries to improve the nutritional and sensory profile of cereal-based foods. Controlled sprouting of grains might lead to the development of specific enzymatic pattern (amylases, proteases, cellulases) that may improve cereals micronutrients bioavailability, color, taste and flavor, and eventually their bread baking performance. Nonetheless, the impact of sprouted grains on dough rheological properties has not been thoroughly investigated. The present work addressed the possibility of using sprouted wheat flour to improve the bread-making performance of stiff (P/L > 1) flours in place of conventional flour improvers (e.g. xylanase, malt). Xylanase and malt were added to the control flour at 0.5% level, as conventionally used in bakeries, whereas sprouted wheat flour was used at 1.5%. Adding xylanase, malt or sprouted wheat to control flour significantly decreased dough stiffness, though best performances were observed in the presence of sprouted wheat. Unlikely the mixtures containing xylanase or malt, the 1.5% sprouted wheat blend showed a gluten aggregation strength similar to that of the control, suggesting no worsening of the protein network characteristics. As for the leavening properties, dough development was increased from 52.8 mm to 70.4 mm, thanks to the enrichment with sprouted flour. In addition, presence of sprouted wheat improved the amount of gas production during leavening. As for the pasting properties, addition of either malt or sprouted wheat led to a significant decrease in the paste viscosity and in the peak temperature, as a result of high amylase activity. Interestingly, in the presence of sprouted wheat lower setback values were observed, thus indicating a lower starch retrogradation tendency that might positively affect bread staling. In conclusion, addition of 1.5% sprouted wheat may represent a valid alternative to xylanase or malt for improving the rheological properties of stiff flours. Further works are ongoing to investigate the impact of other sprouted cereals and pseudocereals on dough performance and bread properties.