Rediscovering bread quality of “old” Italian wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum.) through an integrated approach: Physicochemical evaluation and consumers’ perception

Abstract

The present work aimed to assess flour properties and bread-making quality of “old” Italian wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum.) cultivars (n = 7) by combining physicochemical evaluation and consumers’ perception. Old cultivars-flours and deriving bread had interesting physicochemical features when compared to a new one (Aquilante). Notably, bread derived from Abbondanza (old wheat cultivar) flour had the highest specific volume and bread made with Verna (old wheat cultivar) flour had comparable textural properties to Aquilante-based bread. These results suggested relevant impact of breeding on bread properties, but no trend was observed as function of the release year. For sensory evaluation, acceptability test revealed that bread made with Abbondanza cultivar gave the most appreciated bread similar to that made by the new cultivar. Check-all-that-apply test showed that none of the old cultivars-based breads directly matched the ideal product, but bread made with Abbondanza flour was the closest. Overall, physicochemical and sensory evaluations were aligned in their main outputs enabling the identification of some old cultivars with interesting bread-making quality that can be potentially used and further improved with an optimized breadmaking process for advanced breeding programs.