Effect of heat-moisture treatment of brown rice flour and natural additives on the properties of gluten-free frozen cake batter

Nowadays, the use of frozen dough and batter has been considered by both producers and consumers. Frozen dough technology has permeated all baking products, including cakes. However, the freezing process due to the formation of ice crystals can have destructive effects on the structure of the dough and the food. In addition, in the production of frozen bakery products, it is necessary to maintain the quality and improve the shelf life and quality of the final product through various additives. Therefore, in this study, we try to use additives including xylitol (5 and 10%) and xanthan (0.5 and 1%) along with heat-moisture treatment (HMT) in the preparation of frozen cake batter layer formulation.

In this cake, brown rice flour was used to produce a gluten-free cake. Flours were subjected to different heat and moisture treatments. The produced batter is then subjected to freezing and thawing, and finally the physicochemical properties of the batter were investigated.

The highest specific gravity of cake batter belonged to the samples prepared without HMT and the lowest weight belonged to the sample without additives and with HMT treatment. The peak value of the control starch distribution curve was higher than the treated starch and the particle size distribution of the control starch was relatively concentrated. D50 was calculated from starch granules for the control sample of 23.889 μm and the treated sample for 21.344 μm. Therefore, freezing and heat-humidity treatment led to a reduction in the average particle size of starch grains in the batter. The results show that the peak, trough and final viscosity of the samples containing xanthan were significantly higher (P0.05). Trough and peak viscosity increased with the addition of xylitol while decreasing viscosity decreased significantly. Xanthan-containing treatments had significantly higher viscosity. Also, with increasing xanthan concentration, viscosity increased significantly. After freezing and storage for one week, the number of bubbles and bubble uniformity decreased while the bubble size increased compared to freshly controlled batter. HMT process increased the initial (To), peak (Tp) and final (Tc) gelatinization temperature of the treated sample compared to the untreated sample. Addition of xanthan gum increased the viscosity of the batter, therefore, the onset temperature of gelatinization.

In this study, for the first time in Iran, frozen cake batter was produced and its properties were improved by adding xanthan and xylitol and applying heat-moisture treatment. In general, the results showed that by applying heat-moisture treatment and adding xylitol and xanthan, it is possible to reduce the defects related to reducing the quality of frozen cake dough, which can lead to its further use.