Characterization of the rheological and technological properties of the frozen sourdough bread with chickpea flour addition

The sourdough in bread making has been used as an ancient technology. Preserving the sourdough is a challenge due to the limitations of its microbial and technological stability. Frozen storage can be used in the preservation of sourdough. However, frozen storage causes some quality losses in sourdough as in bread dough during thawing. This study aimed to investigate effect of the use of sourdough enriched with chickpea flour in the frozen bread dough technology. 25 and 50% chickpea flour (25CFS and 50CFS) were used in sourdough and compared with wheat flour sourdough (WFS) bread in frozen storage (−35 °C, 28 days). No reduction was observed in elastic modulus (G′) of sourdough combined with 25 and 50% chickpea flour bread while significant reduction was observed in WFS bread after frozen storage. Freezable water content of 25CFS (25%) was lower than that of WFS bread (33%). Decrease in quality was also observed in WFS bread in terms of specific volume and hardness after frozen storage unlike 25CFS bread. No significant effect of frozen storage was observed on the colour characteristic of breads. This study showed that addition of chickpea flour (25%) to sourdough should improve the rheological quality, the content of freezable water and texture properties of frozen sourdough bread.