Rheological effects of high substitution levels of fats by inulin in whole cassava dough: chemical and physical characterization of produced biscuits.

Inulin has been used as a fat substitute in baked goods due to its gelling properties and functionality. However, it usually has been done in low substitution levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect in rheological parameters in cassava dough caused by high substitution levels of fats by inulin. Physical and chemical characterization of biscuits were done for evaluation of dough's potential usage in bakery products. Substitution of mozzarella cheese by inulin showed that up to 12.5 g inulin per 100 g cassava flour led to a lower storage modulus, suggesting bakery potential for bread like products. Higher substitutions (25 g, 37.5 g, and 50 g per 100 g cassava flour) led to a higher storage modulus and suggest a potential for cookies and similar products. Hardness results obtained support rheological ones, suggesting higher substitution levels are suitable for cookies and similar products. This is inferred by observing an increase in hardness ranging from 5.80 N up to 17.47 N. Cassava dough with fat substituted by inulin in high levels, has potential in the development of different baked goods.

Potential functional bakery products as delivery systems for prebiotics and probiotics health enhancers.

Several health benefits have been associated to probiotics and prebiotics, most of these are involved in the regulation of the host's gut microbiome. Their incorporation to diverse food products has been done to develop potential functional foods. In the case of bakery products, their incorporation has been seen to improve several technological parameters such as volume, specific volume, texture along with sensorial parameters such as flavor and aroma. Scientific literature in this topic has been divided in three main research branches: nutrition, physical quality and sensory analyzes, however, studies rarely cover all of them. Due to the harsh thermal stress during baking, sourdough technology along with microencapsulation of probiotics, has been studied as an alternative to enhance its nutritional values and increase cell viability, though in few occasions. The potential functional baked goods have maintained acceptable physical characteristics and sensorial acceptability, while in some cases an improvement is seen due to the effect of probiotics and prebiotics. The results obtained from several studies done, have shown the viability of developing functional bakery products by applying prebiotics or probiotics. This could be used as an encouragement for more research to be done in this topic.