Effects of freeze‐thaw treatments at different temperatures on the properties of gluten protein from fermented dough

The effects of freeze-thaw cycles at different temperatures on the water-holding capacity, rheological properties, water distribution, secondary structure, and microstructure of gluten protein in the fermented dough were investigated. The gluten protein from fermented dough was freeze-thawed 1–5 times at −6°C, −12°C, −18°C, −24°C, and −30°C. The results showed that when the number of freeze-thaw cycles increased, the water-holding capacity and viscoelasticity of gluten protein decreased, the free water and β-sheet content increased significantly, and the gluten network structure was damaged. With the decrease in freeze-thaw temperature, the deterioration of the water-holding capacity and viscoelasticity of gluten decreased, and the free water and β-sheet content were more efficiently maintained. The microcosmic pores of the gluten protein tended to be uniform at lower temperatures. In short, the quality of gluten protein was most stable when the freeze-thaw cycles were performed at −24°C and −30°C. Novelty Impact Statement At present, most studies on frozen flour products focus on the impact of frozen storage, which does not fully consider the characteristics of quality deterioration and the changes caused by water migration in frozen flour products during freezing-thawing cycles. In this paper, it was found that temperature fluctuation at lower temperatures was more conducive to maintaining gluten quality. The results are beneficial because they will help mitigate the negative effects of temperature fluctuation on frozen flour products during transportation.