Breadmaking Test was used to evaluate the quality of breads made of rice flour, oat flour and wheat starch with added vital gluten. A flour sample adequate for breadmaking was used as standard. The blends of rice flour had 10, 15, 17.5, 20 and 30% of vital gluten and the blends of oat flour had 10, 20 and 30% of vital gluten. Vital gluten was also added to the starch extracted from the standard wheat flour in order to reconstitute the original flour wheat content. The best results from the Breadmaking Test were obtained with the blends of 17.5% of vital gluten to the rice flour and 20% of vital gluten to the oat flour. The breads obtained showed lower volume values than those made of wheat flour (2.67cm³/g for vital gluten+rice flour, 3.07cm³/g for vital gluten+oat flour and 4.14 cm³/g for vital gluten+wheat starch and 5.15cm³/g for standard wheat flour). The rheological characteristics of the best blends were analyzed and compared to the standard wheat flour. The blend of vital gluten and flour starch showed inferior rheological characteristics than the original wheat flour. Also, their breads showed lower volume and compact structure. In general, breads with acceptable characteristics were obtained with the addition of vital gluten to rice flour, oat flour and wheat starch although these characteristics were inferior to those from the breads produced with the original wheat flour. Breads with vital gluten showed little symmetry and almost no breaking. New studies are necessary to investigate the interaction of vital gluten with the other components of wheat flour and its influence in the quality of the final product.
vital gluten; rice flour; oat flour; wheat starch; bread
