Fibres of milling and fruit processing by-products in gluten-free bread making: A review of hydration properties, dough formation and quality-improving strategies

Gluten-free (GF) breads often lack proteins, minerals and fibres and have an imbalanced energy value, as they are primarily based on flour or starch. To nutritionally fortify GF bread, dietary fibres from milling and fruit processing by-products can be utilized. However, fibre addition changes sensorial, nutritional and also technological properties, such as dough or batter hydration. This review evaluates and compares different methods for quantifying the hydration properties of GF fibres and the resulting batters. Revelations are that the hydration properties of fibres vary greatly, depending on the utilized measuring technique, thus impeding the calculation of the appropriate water amount for GF batter processing. In addition, bran and fibres increase the loss factor tan δ and delay thermal transformation, compromising the specific loaf volume. Finally, operational strategies, such as enzymatic or extrusion treatments are discussed regarding their efficiency to increase water absorption in order to further improve GF bread quality. • Fibres can be utilized to enrich nutritive deficient GF products • Fibres affect functionality of GF batter as a function of hydration level • Determination of required water amount to form GF batter is arbitrarily • GF batter rheology is recommended to be neither too liquid nor too viscous • Pre-fermentation or extrusion are strategies to improve water absorption