Gluten-starch interaction

Foods are always a multicomponent physical system, so interactions between components are more significant than the chemical and physical properties of components. Food structures are mainly arranged by noncovalent, nonspecific interactions of proteins and polysaccharides in an aqueous medium. For instance, the most studied structural food macromolecules are soybean proteins, gluten, milk proteins, and starch. But despite detailed knowledge about individual components, the control of dough and milk system functionality remains empirical (but see Chapters 19 and 20). 

It is also important to remember that wheat gluten and dough are complex materials, consisting not only of protein and water, but also starch-, lipid-, water- and salt-soluble proteins and smaller carbohydrates, and so on. The properties of these materials and their interactions with the gluten proteins are poorly understood but can be expected to also influence the viscoelastic properties. The challenge therefore is to understand gluten structure at the molecular level and how this structure interacts... 

Calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate—a recognized bread dough conditioner (24)—is known to complex with certain water-soluble fractions of wheat protein (3), but there is little hard evidence pointing to a direct interaction between it and gluten proteins on the order of that seen between the nonionic surfactants and gliadin. Some evidence (25) suggests that calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate interacts with gluten proteins in the presence of starch. 

Zardetto Dalla Rosa in 2006 studied the evaluation of the chemical and physical characteristics of fresh egg pasta samples obtained by using two different production methodologies extrusion and lamination. Authors evaluated that it is possible to discriminate the two kinds of products by using FT-NIR spectroscopy. FT-NIR analysis results suggest the presence of a different matrix-water association, a diverse level of starch gelatinization and a distinct starch-gluten interaction in the two kinds of pasteurised samples. 

Because there is a strong interaction with -> starch and proteins (->gluten), the salts of 1. (SSL,CSL) are used mostly as additives in baked goods, especially in bread, as dough strengthener, which improves volume and stability as well as texture. SSL is also used in coffee whiteners, creams and icings. 

Nonetheless Hoseney and coworkers [113] came to different conclusions about starch/gluten interactions. They suggested indeed that the increase of G above 7g would indicate that starch gelatinization can sustain a more extended hydrogen bonding between gluten polypeptides and starch polysaccharides. 

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