Evaluation of wheat flour substitution type (corn, green banana and rice flour) and concentration on local dough properties during bread baking

Different bread formulations, which provide different dough structures, were studied in order to better understand the effect of wheat flour substitution, flour type and concentration on dough development during baking, and their relationship with physical properties of the final product. Breads were produced with partial substitution of wheat flour by corn (CF), green banana (GF) and rice flour (RF), at different concentrations, and then baked at different times. Wheat flour substitution by CF, GF and RF in bread reduces heat transfer to the dough center by about 21%, 35% and 20%, respectively; and the water loss by about 5%, 15% and 0%, respectively. Those reductions were more influenced by flour type, than flour concentration. When wheat flour is substituted, the mechanisms of water migration are modified, once the pore system of bread dough is more discrete and stiffens later. Calculated thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the different flours used, and its correlations with average composite-bread heating rates (0.93) and water loss (0.85), respectively, indicates that thermal properties of composite bread dough could represent an important issue to be explored in dough systems with reduced gluten concentration.