Study On The Effects Of Characteristics And Components Of Wheat Flour On The Quality Of Frozen Cooked Noodles

Noodles,as the staple foods,have been consumed for several thousands of years among consumers.Nowadays,consumers pay more and more attention to ready-to-eat convenience,nutrition,healthy foods.Frozen cooked noodles can cater for consumers' demand.Many researches focused on the effects of making process,food additives and frozen storage on the frozen cooked noodles.However,wheat flour plays the key role on the quality of noodles,but very little work was involved in the effect of wheat flour on the quality of frozen cooked noodles.It is essential to study the interrelationship between the wheat flour and frozen cooked noodles through exploring the characteristics of wheat flour and determining the influence mechanism of starch and protein components on the quality of frozen cooked noodles.Firstly,the impact of physicochemical,farinograph,extensograph and pasting characteristics of 14 special wheat flours on the quality of frozen cooked noodles through correlation analysis and principal component analysis was investigated.According to the rate of variance contribution,results showed that five principal components were extracted which reflecting 82.676% information of the original variables.PC1 mainly reflected the strength of dough.PC2 and PC3 mainly reflected pasting properties.PC4 mainly reflected characteristics of protein and PC5 mainly reflected farinograph characteristics.The cooking quality of frozen cooked noodles was significantly related to protein content,wet gluten content,dough stability time,the energy and the resistance to extension,respectively(p<0.05).Therefore,the cooking quality of frozen cooked noodles was influenced by PC1 and PC4.The textural and sensorial quality of frozen cooked noodles were influenced by PC1?PC2 and PC3.The dough with stronger gluten,higher springiness,higher peak viscosity and final viscosity resulted in the frozen cooked noodle with higher textural and sensorial quality.Secondly,the influence of amylose content on the quality of frozen cooked noodle was investigated.Results showed,with the content of amylose decreased from 16.1% to 14.6%,the cooking,textural and sensorial quality of frozen cooked noodles increased first and then decreased,and at the 15.4% content of amylose content,the reheating loss and water absorption of frozen cooked noodles was lowest,meanwhile,the hardness,tensile force and tensile distance was greatest.The frozen cooked noodles possessed the excellent sensory quality.In addition,with the content of amylose decreased,the freeze-thaw stability of frozen cooked noodles increased significantly(p<0.05)and the retrogradation of noodles decreased significantly(p<0.05),which is beneficial for improving the quality of frozen cooked noodles during storage in low temperature.Thirdly,the effect of damaged starch in wheat flour on the quality of frozen cooked noodles was determined.Results showed that with the content of damaged starch increased from 4.3% to 7.9%,the hardness,chewiness,springiness and adhesiveness of frozen cooked noodles increased significantly(p<0.05).Reheating loss of noodles increased significantly and tensile force and tensile distance decreased significantly(p<0.05)with the increment of damaged starch content.Meanwhile,the toughness of frozen cooked noodles decreased and the sensory quality became worse.Furthermore,with the increment of damaged starch content,the amount of freezable water increased significantly(p<0.05),and it was observed by microstructure that the combination of starch and protein was loose.Therefore,damaged starch swelling destroyed the protein network structure to some degree,which was harmful to the quality of frozen cooked noodles.Finally,the influence of the ratio of glutenin to gliadin of protein component on the quality of frozen cooked noodles was studied.Results showed that with the ratio of glutenin to gliadin increased from 1.3 to 1.7,the reheating loss of frozen cooked noodles decreased significantly(p<0.05),and the hardness,tensile force and distance of frozen cooked noodles increased significantly(p<0.05).What's more,the sensory quality of frozen cooked noodles improved.Furthermore,the free-SH content and freezable water of frozen cooked noodles decreased significantly(p<0.05).According to the observation of microstructure,the protein network became tighter and starch embedded well in the protein network with the increment of the ratio of glutenin to gliadin from 1.3 to 1.7.Therefore,the appropriate increment of the ratio of glutenin to gliadin strengthened the gluten structure and improved the quality of frozen cooked noodles.