Polysaccharides Substitutes for Gluten-Free Baking

Gluten is a protein complex that enables wheat flour to form a viscoelastic dough upon mixing with water. Gluten is responsible for celiac disease, a genetic autoimmune disorder that is one of the commonest food intolerances in the world. The disease treatment requires lifelong elimination of gluten in the diet. However, the unique properties of gluten have raised the great challenge of finding new ingredients or additives for the production of high quality gluten-free (GF) foods.
The addition of some polymeric substances that mimic the viscoelastic behaviors of gluten, may provide good quality GF bread or other baked products. We are currently studying two biopolymers (xanthan gum, XG, and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, HPMC), which are often incorporated into gluten-free formulations to improve the texture. The two polymers are representative of two families of biomolecules that display an opposite tendency to self-assemble in response to temperature changes. In fact, XG forms gel at decreasing temperature whereas HPMC self-assembles at increasing temperature. Our aim is to relate the structural properties of hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose and xanthan in aqueous solutions at varying temperature with their known effects in GF breadmaking.

Members:
Donatella Bulone (Principal investigator)
Lorena Anna Ditta
Daniela Giacomazza
Pier Luigi San Biagio