Dados do Trabalho

Título

GLUTEN-FREE COOKIES ELABORATED WITH RICE FLOUR AND AMARANTH FLAKES

Introdução

Interest in gluten-free products with improved nutritional value has grown among various audiences, whether for health or dietary reasons. Amaranth, a cereal rich in protein (15%), sulfur amino acids (4.4%), lysine (5.0%), and fiber (4.5%), can be used as an alternative to improve the nutritional value of rice flour-based biscuits. This study evaluated the impact of partially replacing rice flour (RF) with amaranth flakes (AF) on the technological characteristics of gluten-free cookie formulations.

Material e Métodos

Four formulations were developed: F1 (100% RF), F2 (90% RF and 10% AF), F3 (80% RF and 20% AF), and F4 (70% RF and 30% AF). The study evaluated weight loss after baking (WLAB), specific volume (SV), hardness and color. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and regression (p ≤ 0.05), with significance considered at (R2 ≥ 0.75).

Resultados e Discussão

The results indicated that the increasing addition of AF in the formulations did not influence the WLAB, which ranged from 24.82% to 30.80% (R2 of 0.58). Regarding SV, which ranged from 1.20 cm3/g to 1.67 cm3/g (R2 of 0.94), it presented a quadratic behavior, with the highest values observed with the addition of up to 20% of AF. However, the hardness of the cookies decreased significantly from 12.00 N to 5.91 N (R2 of 0.93) due to the presence of proteins and soluble fibers in AF. This resulted in less crunchiness in the cookies. Regarding color, there was no significant influence (p ≤ 0.05) on the b* parameter, which varied between 18.26 and 23.54 (R2 of 0.44), and on chroma, varying between 18.32 and 23.64 (R2 of 0.45). However, the a* parameter increased from -0.45 to 0.33 (R2 of 0.93), while luminosity decreased from 74.10 to 66.06 (R2 of 0.77) and the hue angle decreased from 95.31 to 89.14 (R2 of 0.90). This change intensified the dark yellow color of the cookies due to the pigments present in AF.

Conclusão

The addition of up to 10% of AF (F2) resulted in acceptable technological characteristics and did not negatively affect the SV, hardness, or color of the cookies, thus serving as an alternative for diets that restrict gluten consumption.