Unraveling the impacts of fermentation methods on the protein structural, foaming and air-water interfacial properties of buckwheat steamed bread dough liquor

Liquid lamella has crucial impacts on stabilizing gas cells and buckwheat steamed bread (BSB) quality due to the high fiber content and lack of gluten protein in buckwheat. The liquid lamella was collected by ultracentrifugation as the dough liquor (DL). This study explored the composition, foaming and interfacial properties of DL from lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeast, LAB and yeast cooperate (LAB-yeast), and chemical acidified and yeast (CA-yeast) fermented buckwheat dough, as well as the unfermented buckwheat dough. Compared with the unfermented dough, the DL yield of LAB-yeast, yeast, and CA-yeast fermented dough decreased by 4.09%, 3.93%, and 7.67%, respectively. The protein molecular weight and surface hydrophobicity of DL were dramatically reduced by LAB, LAB-yeast, and CA-yeast fermentation as compared to unfermented DL. Among all DL samples, the unfermented and yeast DL showed the highest protein surface hydrophobicity and surface activity, resulting in the greatest foam stability. The protein in CA-yeast DL displayed the fastest interface diffusion because its DL had the highest amount of low molecular weight protein, the lowest viscosity and protein content. Compared with the unfermented dough, the LAB and LAB-yeast fermentation decreased, while the CA-yeast fermentation increased the strain hardening index (SHI) of the dough. This enhanced strain hardening behavior contributed to a decrease in the average cell area and an increase in cell density, making the crumb structure of CA-yeast fermented BSB homogeneous and dense.