Making leavened bread from nixtamalized whole sorghum

Abstract

The aim was to determine whether nixtamalized sorghum can induce viscoelastic properties in dough-like systems and to compare its kafirin-gluten-forming properties with those reported for wet wheat gluten. By utilizing dry nixtamalization, it was observed that bread had regular loaf volume, but stiff crumb texture. Therefore, wet nixtamalization accompanied by an additional steeping period was employed. Whole sorghum dough has high G′, G’’ and complex viscosity data η* and K due to highly structured dough, suggesting cross-linked intermolecular kafirins. To the best of our knowledge, wet kafirin-gluten and whole leavened sorghum bread was obtained from sorghum using nixtamalization for the first time. The crumb was attractive and significantly softer but still needed to improve in volume for comparison with bread made of refined wheat flour. An interesting feature noted is that the non-nixtamalized sorghum sample presented relatively low springiness (0.929). In sorghum proteins, the main absorption band of the α-helix increased in nixtamalized treatments as compared to the control (non-nixtamalized) and was associated with an increase in springiness in the bread. This is an important starting point for improving the breadmaking of whole sorghum bread.