Effect of kansui addition on dough rheology and quality characteristics of chickpea-wheat composite flour-based noodles and the underlying mechanism

• Alkaline noodles were prepared by partial substitution of wheat with chickpea flour. • Both G′ and G″ increased with kansui addition and reached to a maximum point at 1.5%. • Crystallinity and degree of order increased with low level of added kansui (0.5–1.5%). • Kansui addition at 0.5–1.5% protected starches being disassociate from gluten network. • Ruptured starch granules were disassociated from the network at 2–3% alkali addition. The impact of kansui on the dough rheology and quality characteristics of chickpea-wheat composite flour-based noodles was investigated. For noodle dough, both the relative crystallinity and degree of order obtained from X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy increased with the low level of kansui addition (0.5–1.5%), followed by a decreased trend at higher levels of alkali concentration (2.0–3.0%). Such variation was in accordance with the trend observed for G′ and G″. Based on the confocal laser scanning microscopic observation for cooked noodle samples, the low concentration of kansui addition (0.5–1.5%) protected the well-embedded starch granules being disassociate from the gluten network, whereas with the increased alkali addition (2.0–3.0%), the protein network was impaired with a greater amount of ruptured starch granules being disassociated from the gluten network. The observation corresponded well with the electrophoretic profile, and the results of cooking properties, -SH content, and textural properties of cooked noodles.