Germinated wheat as an alternative to conventional flour improvers in bread-making

Sprouting is a natural process that enhances the nutritional and sensory profile of cereal-based foods. The present work addressed the possibility of using refined flour from sprouted wheat (SWF) to improve the bread-making performance of some flours in place of conventional improvers - i.e. enzymatic improver (EI) and malt (M). Either 0.5% EI or M was added to the control flour (CTRL), as conventionally used in bakeries, whereas SWF was used up to 2%. Unlikely EI and M, 1.5% SWF showed a gluten aggregation strength similar to that of the CTRL, 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 1.5% SWF. In addition, presence of SWF improved the amount of gas production during leavening- resulting in bread with high specific volume - and the crumb softness during storage. Addition of SWF may represent a valid alternative to enzymatic improvers or malt for improving the technological performance of stiff flours.