Effect of process modifications and binding materials on textural properties of rice noodles

Abstract

Gluten protein is responsible for the formation of basic structure of wheat flour noodles. Since absence of gluten in rice flour, rice starch itself act as the major component which determine the cooking tolerance and mouth feel sensation during chewing of rice noodles. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve the quality characteristics of rice noodles by altering the process variables while adding gum and mucilage as binding agents. Hence, five process variables namely extrusion temperature, dough temperature, type of flour, addition of gums and mucilaginous materials and their concentrations were altered with a view to improve the cooking quality and the texture profile of cooked noodles. Results revealed that, rice noodles extruded at 75 °C was the best extrusion temperature in terms of both cooking quality and texture profile analysis (TPA). Dough temperature improved the cooking quality of rice noodles but did not show a significant effect on textural quality of rice noodles. Nevertheless, noodles prepared from white rice flour showed significantly high cooking quality and textural characteristics than the noodles prepared from red rice flour. Addition of gums and mucilaginous materials was significantly improved the cooking and textural qualities of rice noodles. Xanthan gum incorporated noodle imparted the best cooking and textural quality characteristics than the other gums and mucilage materials incorporated noodles. However, mucilage extract of Neolitsea cassia leaves added noodles showed rather higher cooking and textural quality than the Gum Arabic added noodles. Nevertheless, when increasing the gum concentration, it did not significantly affect on cooking tolerance and textural qualities of cooked rice noodles. Finally, texture of the rice noodles can be improved by altering the extrusion temperature along with the binding materials.