Pregelatinized Rice Flours in Composite Blends for Breadmaking

Abstract

Rice flours milled from grits pregelatinized to a different degree by extrusion under varying conditions of feed moisture and extrusion temperature, were tested for their dough-making and bread baking potential in mixtures with an untreated strong wheat flour. Although none of the composite mixtures was fully comparable in its functionality to the plain wheat flour control, a noticeable improvement in performance was achieved when rice flours of higher degree of pregelatinization (DG) were used in place of the unex-truded material. Such mixtures were characterized by higher baking absorptions and a potential to give loaves with a less-reduced volume and a markedly lower tendency to firm during storage. An acceptable loaf was obtained with mixtures in which up to 25% wheat flour was substituted with an equal amount of rice flour of DG over 70%.