Characterisation of gluten-free breads made with sorghum, teff, and yacon flour using rapid sensory characterisation methodologies

Replacing gluten-containing flours with gluten-free ingredients is a challenge for the food industry due to the technological properties of this protein. This work aimed to evaluate, through the acceptance test, Flash Profile, and Just About Right (JAR), gluten-free bread formulations made with sorghum, teff, and yacon flours. Through experimental design, nine formulations were submitted to acceptance test, which provided the formulation optimised by the overall acceptance scores of the samples. In the subsequent trials, four formulations were evaluated, F1 (100% sorghum), F2 (100% teff), F3 (100% yacon), and F4 (optimised formulation, with 33.33% of each flour). F1 was described by bread yeast odour, crumb texture, and salty taste. F2 presented a salty taste and bread flavour. F3 was characterised by softness, crumb texture, moisture, chewiness, and porosity. F4 was described by pleasant aroma, yeast odour, sweet taste, crumb texture, and porosity, and being the best evaluated in terms of overall acceptance. The descriptive sensory profile of the formulations highlighted attributes that enabled the use of sorghum, teff, and yacon in the preparation of gluten-free bread and highlighted that the mixture of the three in the optimised formulation positively influences the sensory characteristics of the product, improving flavour, taste, and texture.