Reaction Kinetics of Gliadin−Glutenin Cross-Linking in Model Systems and in Bread Making

The gluten proteins gliadin and glutenin are important for wheat flour functionality in bread making, where, during baking, they polymerize through a heat-induced sulfhydryl−disulfide exchange mechanism. A model system was used to study the kinetics of this reaction. Thus, gluten was subjected to hydrothermal treatment with the rapid visco analyzer (RVA) with holding temperatures of 80, 90, and 95 °C. At these temperatures, ω-gliadin solubility did not change, but the solubilities of α- and γ-gliadin in 60% ethanol decreased according to first-order reaction kinetics. All reaction rate constants increased with temperature. The activation energies for the heat-induced exchange reaction were 110 and 147 kJ/mol for α- and γ-gliadin, respectively. Starch did not influence the reaction rates of the association of α- and γ-gliadin with glutenin. During gluten−starch model bread baking, glutenin oxidized first, and when the internal crumb temperature reached 100 °C, α- and γ-gliadin cross-linked to glutenin, again following first-order reaction kinetics. The experimental findings and similarities in temperature conditions and reaction kinetics suggest that the RVA system can be instrumental in understanding gluten behavior in concentrated food systems, such as bread making.