Use of vegetable flours obtained from artichoke by-products as a functional ingredient in gluten-free bread formulations

Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) is a plant well known for its nutritional properties, but generally, the food industry uses only the 20% of the whole plant represented by the "artichoke heart", while the other parts (leaves, stems and brats) are considered by-products and destined to be a waste. In the present study, two flours obtained from stems and the bracts (ASF and ABF) of the artichoke cultivar "Violetto Catanese", were previously characterized for nutritional and functional properties and then used in gluten free bread preparations. The replacement of gluten free mix formula ("NutriFree") with 7% of vegetable flour (ASF or ABF) resulted in a gluten-free bread with physico-chemical characteristics not significantly (p > 0.05) different from those of the Control but with improved fibre content. Moreover, the experimental bread obtained, had a huge amount of total polyphenols that seems to be resistant to baking process and determined an increase in the antioxidant activity of the bread. Therefore, the present work, enhances the potential use of ASF and ABF as food ingredients in order to improve the functional properties of gluten-free bread.