Modulating traditional scalded dough with constant-temperature treatment: Mechanistic insights from the hierarchical structures of starch and gluten

Scalded dough is a key intermediate material widely used in Chinese foods. Yet, its traditional preparation suffers from substantial heat loss and limited thermal efficacy, which impedes its industrial adoption and the standardized production of related products. Thus, constant-temperature treatment was applied to improve the traditional method, and the effects of this modification on dough rheology and the multi-scale structures of starch and gluten were systematically investigated across varying temperatures. Results showed that constant-temperature treatment enhanced the responsiveness of dough rheology to temperature, lowering the modification temperature from 85°C to 65°C. Compared with the traditional scalded dough (TSD), the constant-temperature scalded dough (CTSD) showed higher elasticity and viscosity but lower extensibility. These changes were related to the greater disruption of the gluten network and enhanced aggregation of gluten proteins induced by constant-temperature treatment, with CTSD85 presenting the lowest gluten network area percentage (12.49%) and fluorescence intensity (351 A.U.), and the highest GMP content (4.27 g/100g). Additionally, starch gelatinization was further promoted by constant-temperature treatment at higher temperatures, as evidenced by decreases in relative crystallinity (38.4%), R 1047/1022 ratio (1.67%), peak viscosity (68.66%) and gelatinization enthalpy (60.1%) in CTSD85. These findings advance the traditional thermal processing of scalded dough and clarify the starch–gluten structural mechanisms underlying its rheological properties, providing a theoretical foundation for standardized quality control in the industrial production of scalded dough products.