Gabriel Sanchez

Characteristics and Quality of Gluten-Free Bread

FOS4041
March 20, 2016

Introduction
Gluten is a name for proteins found in cereal grains including wheat, barley, and rye.
Gluten both nourishes plant embryos during germination and later affects the elasticity of dough.
The proteins that are composed of gluten are gliadin and glutenin. In recent years, the gluten-free
market has experienced growth and has become a trend in food departments. Reasoning on
consumers avoiding gluten is because they believe that gluten-free products are a healthier
option and that a gluten-free diet is an effective way to lose weight. However, there is no
scientific evidence to support these beliefs. For individuals with celiac disease, wheat allergies
and other diseases that affect an individual with the consumption of gluten, a strict gluten-free
diet is recommended. The characteristics and qualities desired in gluten-free breads is to have
bread that has volume sustainable to have great qualities when the bread is finished.

Bread making process

In the bread making process, there are six steps in order to make bread. The first step is
mixing. It hydrates and solubilizes the flour and yeast which then breaks down the starch
granules and absorbs the water. Then the enzymes digest starch into sugars that the yeast feed on,
initially the dough is a stick plastic mass. Kneading is the next step. It changes the sticky dough
to one that is smooth, dry, elastic and helps with the development of gluten. It also distributes
yeast cells throughout the dough and removes excessive carbon dioxide. Kneading takes about
10-15 minutes with short, rhythmic strokes until dough is smooth and satiny. Fermentation is the
following step and it helps the yeast cells transform sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol; which
then makes the volume of the dough increase. Gluten then becomes more elastic and springy and
lactic acid and acetic acids are formed and enhance flavor. Cover the bread with a warm, damp
towel to prevent drying, 78-822F is an ideal rising temperature. As the dough rises, gluten strands

become thinner and weaker. After the dough has doubled in size, test readiness of dough by
inserting two fingers in the dough, if indentation remains then its ready. Punching down is the
following step. In punching down with the fist, gently push into the center of the dough and then
fold edges to the center and turn over. In doing so it releases excess gas, redistributes food for
yeast and temperature. After punching down, proofing is the next step. It allows the dough to rise
again until its almost doubled. Baking is the final step in bread making process and it
considerably increases the volume ~80% for the first to 6-12 minutes from gas expansion.
Increased fermentation of yeast partakes and also the production and expansion of gas, air, steam
and CO2. During the baking process, denaturation of proteins, gelatinization of starches,
evaporation of water and the browning of the crust ensues.

How do wheat breads compare to gluten-free production

Literature has described the lack of cohesiveness and elasticity of gluten-free
batters/doughs. They are more difficult to handle than wheat flour dough and have poor gas
holding capacity. The end products have a low volume, a crumbly texture, pale color, poor flavor
and firm rapidly.3
Using rice and maize flours, which are often combined with maize, potato, or cassava
starches as base flours because they are widely available, inexpensive ingredients that are bland
in taste and flavor. However, these flours and starches have minimal structure-building potential
and, thus, are frequently used along with proteins and hydrocolloid binding agents and with other
additives to improve gluten-free bread physical properties, acceptance and shelf-life. These
gluten-free flours and starches are not generally enriched or fortified, and neither are the
resulting gluten-free products, in the same way as their wheat-based counterparts. Therefore,

gluten-free products may lead to nutritional deficiencies in micronutrients, protein and dietary
fiber. The development of gluten-free bread is still a challenge because no single raw material,
ingredient, or additive can currently replace gluten fully. Nevertheless, great research advances
have been made in this field. Several recent studies have used food science tools to improve the
technological and sensory qualities of gluten-free bread, together with the nutritional value16

Characteristics of gluten-free bread

In my research, I found that in the production of making gluten-free bread there were
different flours in order to find the best nutritional value of gluten-free bread; along with
different characteristics of the breads in the experiments conducted. With the substitutions of
flours such as amaranth, chickpea and buckwheat, their bread ingredients increased the specific
volume and had hard crumbs. Ingredients with rice flour too had a high specific volume. In one
experiment coarse flour was used and the specific volume significantly increased when coarse
flour was used to obtain breads, and also a steady increase of specific volume was also observed
when enhancing the water content of dough. In making gluten-free balady flat breads along with
wheat bread, the wheat bread had clearly higher roundness values compared to the gluten-free
balady flat bread. The gluten protein are responsible not only this cohesive and viscoelastic
property of wheat flour dough, but also for the protein-starch interaction that is related to the
doughs ability to retain gas during fermentation and partly for the setting of the dough during
baking.1,5,9,11
Quinoa bran also was used in the production of making gluten-free bread. It increased the
firmness of the quinoa bran; however, it might have impaired the foam stability of the dough.
Moreover, it is possible that due to increased carbon dioxide formation, gas pressure in the dough

matrix accumulated and contributed to a structural break. This might be the reason why the
maximum dough height was negatively influenced by quinoa bran despite the higher gas
production.12 On the effort to improve the quality of gluten free rice bread, four types of
proteases were used, proteases A, M, P and thermoase. Increasing the specific volume and
decrease in the crumb hardness were observed after the treatment with protease M and
thermoase, whereas protease A and P had no effects on the specific volume and crumb
hardness.13
One studied showed that in the presence of skim milk powder showed a higher specific
volume when comparing the effect of skim milk powder when comparing the effect of skim milk
powder on the specific volume of gluten-free baked product; however, the extent of the effect
was highly dependent on the protein source. Gluten-free based product containing egg powder
presented a higher specific volume than breads with soy bean flour or milk powder. It also
showed that the addition of dairy proteins to the gluten-free formulation improves the specific
volume.15

Quality of gluten-free breads

In order to improve the overall quality of gluten-free breads there were different test and
methods performed. One experiment concluded with 25% quinoa flour replacement to
buckwheat positively affected the bread quality and sensory perception.2 In the addition of
ovalbumin to batter made from rice flour and soymilk improved the interior of the bread and the
ability of the batter to rise.8 In the production of making gluten-free cookies, particle size and
damages starch significantly influenced cookie spread and texture. Generally, gluten-free cookies
had lower spread and higher hardness than wheat cookies, flours with the coarsest particle size

gave rise to cookies with the largest diameter.10 With the experiment conducted with the
proteases, protease M and thermoase improved the bread quality because they formed a structure
that could incorporate more air bubbles, thereby retaining more carbon dioxide during proofing.13
The specific volume of bread made with a new Japonia rice variety developed in Korea
(SG) flour was higher than that of general rice varieties (SK and BRC) breads even though all
varieties studied contained a similar amylose content. This phenomenon could arise from the
water behaviour in the dough, since water acts as plasticizer and is responsible for the
physicochemical properties. SG flour absorbed less water than SK and BRC flours. SG flour
contained a low content of damaged starch and protein compared with SK and BRC, which is
associated with low SG grain hardness. SG flour possessed relatively large amounts of free water
which did not combine with starch or the other components in the flour. The plasticizing effect of
water could enhance dough mobility, resulting in facilitating dough expansion during proofing.
In contrast, SK and BRC, containing excessive damaged starch, were more hydrated in the form
of bound water and produced a harder dough than SG. When additional water was supplied to
SK and BRC flour during dough preparation, the breads underwent less expansion and a sticky
crumb texture was obtained. A lower crumb hardness value was observed for SG and SK. The
larger loaves were soft and had a looser crumb structure, resulting in a lower crumb hardness. In
addition, the rice bread made with SG flour resulted in lower gumminess and chewiness values.
Amylose molecules play an important role in the formation of bread crumb structure and the
prevention of the collapse of the baked bread on cooling. The amylose content of rice varieties in
this study was determined to be approximately 20% and there were no significant differences
among the samples. However, bread quality was significantly different in spite of this. Therefore,
comprehensive interpretation of various factors such as starch shape, particle size, etc. is needed

to produce high quality gluten-free rice breads. Consequentially, these characteristics indicated
that the SG variety was appropriate to make gluten-free rice bread since it could resolve issues of
gluten-free rice breads, such as poor volume, dry crumb and mouthfeel of the final products.
Rice grains with round-starch granules are appropriate as the main ingredients for making
gluten-free rice breads that are comparable to normal wheat breads containing gluten.6
Conclusion
Furthermore, new studies should be performed to test and optimize the nutrient-dense
alternative raw materials and nutritional and functional ingredient levels of gluten-free bread
formulations by considering their nutritional, sensory and technological properties as well as
shelf-life. Food scientists and technologists should assess the proximal composition and the
nutrient and bioactive compounds in enriched/fortified gluten-free bread formulations to evaluate
whether the target values were achieved and to define adequate dosage levels. Studies regarding
digestibility, bioaccessibility and bioavailability could be performed on those specially designed
formulas.16

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