High Protein Rice Flour In The Development Of Gluten Free Pasta

Abstract

Cahokia Rice is a biofortified high protein (10-12%) variety of rice. This rice has been evaluated and studied to create gluten-free products like cakes, muffins, and bread. This study was aimed to develop and analyze a gluten-free pasta using this high protein rice. Different pasta made with high-protein-white-rice-flour (HPWRP), high-protein-brown-rice flour (HPBRP), commercial-white-rice flour (CWRP), commercial-brown-rice flour (CBRP), and wheat-pasta (WP) as control were prepared and dried. The cooking quality of the pasta was evaluated by measuring pasting properties, cooking time, water absorption capacity and cooking loss. Physical properties such as color and texture (firmness, compression energy, and work of shear) were measured for dry and cooked pasta. A proximate analysis (moisture, protein, fat, ash, and dietary fiber) was also done. A sensory test was done to determine consumer acceptability and purchase intent of HPWRP and HPBRP in comparison to WP. The pasting properties indicated that HPWRP and HPBRP had higher pasting temperatures, lower peak viscosity than commercial rice flour pastas which was related to the higher protein content. HPWRP and HPBRP had less cooking loss than CWRP and CBRP; all treatments had similar water absorption capacity (around 130%) except for WP that was higher (140%). White rice pastas along with WP took more time to cook than brown rice pastas. HPWRP and HPBRP had higher protein (around 7.5%) and fat content, creating a firmer cooked pasta (138.23 g HPBRP, 179.82 g HPWRP) that required more compression energy than commercial rice pastas. Consumers’ (83) overall liking of HPBRP (5.37), HPWRP (6.00), WP (6.81) was acceptable. Color, firmness, and stickiness attributes negatively affected the overall liking of HPWRP and HPBRP. High protein rice flours improve firmness and cooking loss properties of gluten free rice pasta which was acceptable in terms of sensory overall liking. Still, it is recommended to improve color, firmness, and stickiness of the pasta to reach higher sensory acceptability.