Improving Wheat Bran Properties Using Potential Bioprocesses for Application in Functional Bread Production

ABSTRACT Wheat bran is a major byproduct of white flour milling and has been produced in large quantities around the world. It is a cheap and abundant source of dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds. In the current study, wheat bran was subjected to individual and combination treatments of enzyme and fermentation to improve its nutritional and physicochemical properties for the application of functional bread production. The results showed that the treatment of wheat bran with the combination of xylanase enzyme, Lactobacillus plantarum, and baker's yeast was the best treatment with higher nutritional value, phenolic content, and water‐extractable arabinoxylans compared to the individual treatments. Moreover, the substitution of wheat flour with treated wheat bran (< 15%) improved the rheological properties of pan bread dough and increased the nutritional value, phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and freshness of pan bread. The study concluded that solid‐state fermentation (by L. plantarum and baker's yeast) combined with xylanase is an efficient technique to enhance the nutritional and functional properties of wheat bran for production of functional foods.