The effects of extruded black rice flour on rheological and structural properties of wheat-based dough and bread quality

Addition of raw black rice flour leads to deficient processability on bread making quality. One of the effective methods to modify the functional properties of black rice flour (BRF) composite dough is to extrude black rice flour (EBRF) before incorporation. This study investigated and compared the effect of BRF and EBRF addition level of 10%-50% on the rheology, microstructure of dough and bread quality. The rheological properties of composite dough were recorded by Mixolab, stress relaxation and tensile test. The substitution of EBRF presented higher water absorption but lower development time, protein weakening, starch gelatinization, starch gel stability and starch retrogradation than wheat flour dough. Both the BRF and EBRF dough presented solid-like behaviour, while the EBRF dough showed more viscous, higher resistance and extensibility than BRF dough. The dough microstructure of dough was observed by SEM, and a more compact structure of EBRF dough could be seen than BRF dough. The incorporation of EBRF in bread quality presented higher specific volume, lower bake loss and firmness than BRF bread. These findings indicated the potential utilisation value of extruded black rice flour in bread making.