The effect of Inulin addition on rheological and physical characteristics of pasta dough

Functional foods capable of improving the health and decreasing the risk of disease contain the compounds with biological activity. Adding these compounds to human diet would be associated with a great change in food Industries. Pasta, as a healthy and valuable food, is used by many segments of the society. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of adding 1%, 2.5% and 5% Inulin on rheological properties of pasta dough including water absorption, dough development time, stability, dough softening and farinograph quality number (FQN) with Farinograph, energy, resistance to extension, extensibility and ratio number with Extensograph instrument, tenacity (P), extensibility (L), swelling index (G), deformation energy (W), configuration ratio (P/L) and elasticity index (Ie) with Alveograph instrument, ash and protein content of pasta dough with standard method carried out in randomized complete block design with 4 replications. The results showed that by increasing the amount of Inulin, the dough development time, dough stability and Farinograph quality number decreased while the water absorption and dough softening increased. Also in Extensograph, energy, resistance to extension, dough elasticity and ratio number were decreased. The swelling index and the extensibility of Alveograph increased by increasing the amount of Inulin but other parameters decreased. Additional of Inulin (5%) had no significant effect on protein and ash content. 1% and 2.5% Inulin addition were generally selected as the optimum treatment because of a lesser effect on the rheological properties of dough. The treatment of 2.5% suggested as the best amount of inulin which can be added to pasta dough.