Study of the quality of a dry gluten-free pasta formulated with pregelatinized flours

Gluten-free foods are on the rise due to healthier lifestyle choices. Therefore, it is necessary to diversify the development of these types of foods based on alternatives that incorporate nutritious raw materials, such as flours derived from legumes, pseudocereals, and oilseeds. However, given the technological limitations of gluten-free matrices, it is important to improve the functionality of ingredients through processes such as pregelatinization. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of incorporating pregelatinized rice flours (PRF) and yellow pea flours (PYPF) into a gluten-free pasta base formulation made only with nativerice, buckwheat, yellow pea floura, and chia expeller in a 40:32:18:10 ratio, respectively. To optimize the mix, a simplex-lattice design was used, replacing native rice and pea flours with their respective pregelatinized flours in ranges from 0 to 100%, keeping the proportion of the remaining ingredients fixed. Nine pasta formulations were prepared, and their quality was determined by analyzing hardness, optimal cooking time (TOC), water absorption, solids loss during cooking, and acidity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression models showed that hardness and TOC fit significantly (p<0.05) to a quadratic model (R2=87.29; R2=74.44, respectively), indicating a relevant influence of the pregelatinized flours. No significant effects were found for acidity, water absorption, and solids loss. These results demonstrate the importance of studying the appropriate combination of ingredients to optimize properties that determine the final quality of a food product.