Evaluation of aleurone flour on dough, textural, and nutritional properties of instant fried noodles

Authors: XU, MIN - Wheat Marketing Center; HOU, GARY - Wheat Marketing Center; MA, FENGYUN - The Ohio State University; DING, JUNZHOU - University Of Illinois; DENG, LINGZHU - Wheat Marketing Center; KAHRAMAN, OZAN - University Of Illinois; NIU, MENG - Huazhong Agricultural University; TRIVETTEA, KATHLEEN - Wheat Marketing Center; LEE, BON - Wheat Marketing Center; WU, LIANG - Ma'Anshan China & Russia Machinery Technology Co, Ltd,; Baik, Byung-Kee

Submitted to: LWT - Food Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2020
Publication Date: 3/17/2020
Citation: Xu, M., Hou, G.G., Ma, F., Ding, J., Deng, L., Kahraman, O., Niu, M., Trivettea, K., Lee, B., Wu, L., Baik, B.V. 2020. Evaluation of aleurone flour on dough, textural, and nutritional properties of instant fried noodles. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 126: Article 109294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.109294.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.109294

Interpretive Summary: There is a growing interest in the production of healthier and more nutritious instant fried noodles, even though they have enjoyed a rapid increase in consumption around the world due to their convenience, good taste, long shelf life, and affordable price. The nutritional value of instant fried noodles could be effectively enhanced by the addition of aleurone, the thin outer endosperm layer of wheat grain, which is rich in nutrition enhancing compounds including protein, minerals, dietary fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. Incorporation of the aleurone fraction into refined wheat flour, however, alters the flour composition and consequently the dough mixing properties and the product quality of noodles. The wheat grain aleurone fraction was blended with a refined wheat flour in proportions of 5 to 25% for the production of instant fried noodles with improved nutritional quality. The influence of the added aleurone fraction on dough mixing properties and quality of instant fried noodles was determined. Incorporation of the aleurone fraction resulted in: 1) increased dough mixing absorption and stability, likely due to the increased protein and dietary fiber contents; 2) reduced cooking yield of instant fried noodles because of the decreased starch content; and 3) increased cooked noodle hardness and decreased springiness, cohesiveness and resilience. The obtained results present an effective way to improve the nutritional quality of instant fried noodles, and to help noodle manufacturers in the production of instant fried noodles with added aleurone by providing information on the expected changes in processing and product quality.

Technical Abstract: Aleurone flour is a nutrient-dense ingredient that can be incorporated into food products to improve nutritional and health benefits. The objective of this research was to evaluate dough and instant noodle quality using wheat flour/aleurone flour blends. Six blends of refined hard red spring wheat flour and aleurone flour at 100/0, 95/5, 90/10, 85/15, 80/20, and 75/25 blend ratios (g/g) were used to make instant noodles. Flour proteins increased by 3.7–13.1 g/kg with 50–250 g/kg aleurone flour substitution. Dough water absorption (65.6–75.4%) and mixing stability (15.2–17.6 min) were increased due to increased flour protein content after the inclusion of aleurone flour. However, the cooking yield of final instant noodle (142-127%) gradually declined with more aleurone flour substitution because of lower total starch and higher protein. Cooked noodle hardness (5.36–7.56 N) increased while springiness (0.962–0.937), cohesiveness (0.735–0.652) and resilience values (0.446–0.376) declined with increasing aleurone flour substitution due primarily to higher fiber content. Aleurone flour substitution for refined flour in instant noodle greatly increased total phenolic content and total dietary fiber content, effectively promoting its nutritional and health benefits to consumers.