Foods with Prosopis spp. flour: common and new baked products

BIGNE F.; SCIAMMARO L.P.; CONFORTI P.; SALINAS M. V.; FERRERO C.; PUPPO M.C.

Prosopis as a Heat Tolerant Nitrogen Fixing Desert Food Legume. 1st Edition. Prospects for Economic Development in Arid Lands

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2021;

Baked products are basic foods of people´s diet around the world, as they are a good source of energy intake. In this work we exploit the benefit of Prosopis spp. flour in developing wheat based bread and gluten-free muffins and biscuits. In wheat based breads, the presence of Prosopis flour led to dough of low volumes after fermentation and the breads has firmer crumbs with smaller alveoli, but with good sensory acceptability. Besides, thermal behavior was modified by the presence of Prosopis flour. No changes were observed in the texture parameters of breads with Prosopis flour that were subjected to Part-Baking technology (eight weeks of frozen storage at −18°C) in comparison with non-frozen bread. To help people with celiac disease who must follow a gluten-free diet, muffin and biscuits with mesquite flour were developed. All gluten-free muffins and biscuits had very good physical and sensory characteristics. Nutritional analysis of the muffins indicate that those products with Prosopis alba flour had higher amounts of proteins, minerals, dietary fiber and compounds with antioxidant activity. Sensory and nutritional analysis showed that this flour contributed in a positive form to muffin´s quality, suggesting that this flour would be a suitable ingredient as mimetic of chocolate-based breads. Prosopis chilensis flour was utilized up to 10% as a replacer of free sugar in the production of semi-sweet gluten-free biscuits. No significant changes were obtained on texture and color of these Prosopis biscuits, although the amount of dietary fiber and compounds with antioxidant activity were enhanced in these products.