Effects of wholegrain pigmented rice on physical and nutritional properties of gluten-free bread

Individuals affected by celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity disease need to adhere to a lifelong gluten-free (GF) diet. However, most of the GF products available in the market are low in nutritional qualities, as they are mainly starch-based. The use of wholegrain cereals in GF bread is therefore a promising strategy to improve its nutritional quality, in particular when using pigmented varieties. Pigmented rice is high in anthocyanins and phenolic acids that can help preventing chronic diseases. This study investigated the applicability of wholegrain pigmented rice (brown, red, black) in developing GF bread using ohmic and conventional heating processes. The addition of pigmented rice to GF breads resulted in higher specific bread volume, lower crumb firmness and relative elasticity, while porosity was increased, although with less unform pore size, compared to control bread from white (polished) rice. Wholegrain pigmented rice addition resulted in significantly higher amounts of total dietary fiber, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities of GF breads. Overall, this study demonstrated that wholegrain pigmented rice flours have the potential to improve the physical and nutritional values of GF breads. • Wholegrain pigmented rice improved the physical properties of GF bread. • Already 20% and 60% of pigmented rice increased the total dietary fiber (TDF) and total phenolic content (TPC) respectively. • Ohmic-baked GF breads benefited more from including pigmented rice.