Effect of inulin with different degree of polymerization on plain wheat dough rheology and the quality of steamed bread

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different polymerization degree of inulin on plain wheat dough rheology and quality of steamed bread. It was found the water absorption of dough decreased with the increasing of short-chain (FS) and natural inulin (FI) and increased with the increasing of long-chain inulin (FXL) higher than 7.5%. Three kinds of inulin all increased the development time, stability and farinograph quality number and decreased softening degree of the dough. When proof time was less than 90min, the extensibility increased with the substitution of 5% of FS, 5% of FI and 2.5% of FXL. The resistance to extension, ratio number of resistance to extensibility and energy all increased with the increasing of FS and FI as well as the time. While the energy increased with FXL substation at 45min and dropped thereafter, regardless of the concentration. The addition of inulin all enhanced the brightness, specific volume and hardness of steamed bread and decreased the water content, vaporization enthalpy, springiness, recovery, and cohesiveness. During the storage, inulin reduced the change rates of relative hardness, recovery, and cohesiveness and increased the change rate of relative enthalpy, which restrained the staling rate of steamed bread.