Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212

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Journal of Cereal Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcs

Effect of inulin with different degree of polymerization on plain wheat

dough rheology and the quality of steamed bread
Denglin Luo a, b, *, Xuping Liang a, Baocheng Xu a, b, Xuerui Kou a, b, Peiyan Li a, b,
Sihai Han a, b, Jianxue Liu a, b, Lu Zhou a
a
College of Food and Bioengineering, Henan University of Science & Technology, 471023, Luoyang, Henan Province, China
b
Henan Engineering Research Center of Food Material, Henan University of Science & Technology, 471023, Luoyang, Henan Province, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different polymerization degree of inulin on plain
Received 6 January 2017 wheat dough rheology and quality of steamed bread. It was found the water absorption of dough
Received in revised form decreased with the increasing of short-chain (FS) and natural inulin (FI) and increased with the
14 April 2017
increasing of long-chain inulin (FXL) higher than 7.5%. Three kinds of inulin all increased the develop-
Accepted 19 April 2017
Available online 20 April 2017
ment time, stability and farinograph quality number and decreased softening degree of the dough. When
proof time was less than 90min, the extensibility increased with the substitution of 5% of FS, 5% of FI and
2.5% of FXL. The resistance to extension, ratio number of resistance to extensibility and energy all
Keywords:
Inulin
increased with the increasing of FS and FI as well as the time. While the energy increased with FXL
Plain wheat flour substation at 45min and dropped thereafter, regardless of the concentration. The addition of inulin all
Rheology enhanced the brightness, specific volume and hardness of steamed bread and decreased the water
Steamed bread content, vaporization enthalpy, springiness, recovery, and cohesiveness. During the storage, inulin
reduced the change rates of relative hardness, recovery, and cohesiveness and increased the change rate
of relative enthalpy, which restrained the staling rate of steamed bread.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction performance (Kip et al., 2006). Various researches have confirmed

Functional foods today play a more important role in food in-
dustry with the increase of consumer demand for nutrition and
health benefits. In particular, the products enriched with dietary
fiber have been considered an appealing subject to people, since it
can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, intestinal disease and
obesity (Brownlee, 2011). Inulin, as a soluble dietary fiber is a linear
polysaccharide, which constituted by fructose molecules linked by
b (2 / 1) bonds, with a terminal glucose unit linked by a (1 / 2)
bond. According to the difference of degree of polymerization (DP),
inulin can be divided into short-chain of inulin (DP
10), natural
inulin (DP 2-60) and long-chain inulin (DP  23) (Chi et al., 2011). In
earlier studies, inulin was mainly used as fat substitution, filler and
structure formation (Pawel, 2010; Ta
rrega et al., 2011). Compared
with dietary fibers from the cereals, legumes and vegetables, inulin
has more outstanding physiological functions and processing
* Corresponding author. College of Food and Bioengineering, Henan University of
Science & Technology, 471023, Luoyang, Henan Province, China.
E-mail address: luodenglin@163.com (D. Luo).
that it can selectively promote the growth of probiotics, enhance
the health of host, reduce blood glucose concentration, maintain
the balance of lipid metabolism, improve the bioavailability of
mineral element and strengthen organism immunity (Bosscher
et al., 2006; Kaur and Gupta, 2002).
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of re-
searches on the applications of inulin in flour products. However,
such researches remain narrow in focus studying only with the
influence of inulin replacement or addition on rheological charac-
teristics of high protein flour (Hager et al., 2011; Peressini and
Sensidoni, 2009; Salinas et al., 2012) and gluten-free flour
(Juszczak et al., 2012; Ziobro et al., 2013) as well as the quality of
bread (Bojnanska et al., 2015; Filipovi
c et al., 2015). There is a
relatively small literature which is concerned with the effect of
different degree of polymerization of inulin on plain flour and
Chinese steamed bread. Chen et al. (2014) studied the effect of
inulin addition on rheological properties of plain flour dough and
noodle quality, which revealed that inulin addition contributed to
reducing the water absorption and degree of softening of dough
and the TPA parameters had significant change when the addition

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2017.04.009
0733-5210/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
206 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212
of inulin higher than 7.5%, while the DP of inulin did not mentioned.
A similar result was observed by Luo et al. (2015), who reported
that the substitution of shot-chain inulin enhanced the extensi-
bility and stability of plain wheat dough. Liu et al. (2016a, b) pointed
that the quality of Chinese steamed breads with lower than or equal
to 5% inulin addition also were significant improved. But there is no
report which is available to the influence of natural inulin and long-
chain inulin on plain dough and steamed bread.
The objectives of this study was to investigate the effect of inulin
with varying DP on the rheological properties of plain wheat dough,
as well as Chinese steamed bread quality characteristics. These
experimental results could be used to evaluate the feasibility of
inulin as dietary fiber supplements in Chinese steamed bread.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Plain wheat flour of 10.8% moisture, 0.51% ash, and 9.64% protein
(Lvshuiyuan China), sodium chloride (Weiqun, China) and instant
dry yeast (Angle brand, China) in this experiment were purchased
from a local market. In addition, dried three kinds of inulin were
used: Fibruline® S30 (FS, average DP
10, inulin content90%),
Fibruline® Instant (FI, DP2~60, inulin content>86%) and Fibruline®
XL (FXL, averageDP23, inulin content94.5%) (Cosucra, Belgium).
2.2. Preparation of wheat flour-inulin blends
Wheat flour was partially substituted by three kinds of inulin to
prepare composite blends. Inulin levels used were 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and
10% (g inulin/100 g flour). The flour and inulin were mixed together
20 min to ensure evenly blending.
2.3. Farinograph and extensograph tests
The properties of the dough during development were tested by
an S-300N farinograph (Brabender, Germany) according to the
standard method (54-21). The water absorption (WA), dough
development time (DT), stability time (ST), softening degree (SD)
and farinograph quality number (FQN) of flour-inulin blends were
determined.
Extension measurements were conducted in accordance with
the standard produce using extensograph-E (Brabender, Germany).
Dough prepared using the Farinograph-E were divided into two
parts of 150 g each and retained for 45e135 min for proving. The
dough extensibility (E), resistance to extension (R), ratio number of
resistance to extensibility (R/E) and extension energy (Area) were
obtained.
Measurements of the above farinograph and extensograph were
carried out in duplicate.
2.4. Preparation of steamed bread
The control steamed bread formula contained 300 g wheat flour,
3 g dry yeast and 75% distilled water on the base of farinograph
water absorption test. The steamed bread enriched with inulin was
prepared according to the wheat flour partially substitution with
the best level concluded by the farinograph and extensograph test.
The yeast and inulin were individually dissolved in distilled water
at 35  C before they were mixed with wheat flour in a kneader
(HM740, Hanshang Co., China) for 15min. After that, the dough was
evenly divided into 4 pieces and placed in a fermentation room (FJ-
12A, Yigao Co., China) at temperature 35  C and humidity 83% for
40min. Then, the dough was again molded and continued
fermentation for 20min followed by steaming for 10min using the
boiling water. The steamed bread was cooled at room temperature
for 1 h before testing.
2.5. Color measurements
The color of steamed bread crumb and crust was performed by a
Minolta CR-400 colorimeter (X-rite Co., USA), which was calibrated
before measure by the white and black standard tiles. The indices
determined were L*(0: black, 100: white), a*(-a*: greenness; þa*:
redness) and b*(-b*: blueness; þb*: yellowness). The measure-
ments of every treatment were performed in three replicates.
2.6. Water content measurements
Moisture content of steamed bread crumb was determined by
air oven method. The oven temperature was 105 ± 3  C (44-15A).
All the measurements were conducted in triplicate.
2.7. Specific volume measurements
The steamed bread after 1 h of cooling was weighed and the
volume was determined by the millet replacement method, each
group was performed in triplicate.
2.8. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurements
Thermal properties of steamed bread were performed using a
DSC-1 (Mettler-Toledo, Switzerland) equipped with a nitrogen
cooling system and an operation software for determination.
Approximately 10 mg of the steamed bread sample was weighed in
aluminum pan with an empty aluminum pan as the reference. The
measurement process was as following: Sample was equilibrated at
25  C for 5 min and then scanned from 25  C to 190  C at a heating
rate of 10  C/min. The water vaporization enthalpy was integrated
and calculated.
2.9. Textural measurements
Texture property of steamed bread was measured after the
storage of 1, 24, 48, and 72 h. The center crumb sample
(2  2  2 cm3) was removed by cutting and measured using a
texture analyzer (Instron Universal 5544, Instron Co., USA) equip-
ped with a 25 kg load cell and an aluminum cylindrical probe (P/
36D). The test rate was 1 mm/s and the compress depth was 12 mm.
The hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and recovery character
were calculated by the texture profile analysis curve. All the tests
were conducted in triplicate.
2.10. Statistical analysis
The Origin software 8.5 was used in the data processing and
graphics rendering. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS
19.0. All statistical analyses were done by analysis of variance
(ANOVA). The significance level of p < 0.05 was used.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of inulin on dough rheology
3.1.1. Effect of inulin on farinograph parameters
Table 1 presents the summary statistics for the farinograph
indices of dough with different DP of inulin. It is apparent that the
water absorption (WA) of dough follows a linear decrease with the
addition of FS (WA ¼ 2.23FS þ 63.59, R2 ¼ 0.99) or FI
(WA ¼ 2.10FI þ 63.28, R2 ¼ 0.96). When 10% of wheat flour was
 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212 207

Table 1
Effect of inulin on the farinograph properties of dough.

Inulin Amount/% WA/% DT/min ST/min SD/FU FQN/mm

0 61.43 ± 3.02b 3.18 ± 0.13i 4.55 ± 0.09f 101.54 ± 5.03a 61.00 ± 4.03f
FS 2.5 59.29 ± 2.83c 3.45 ± 0.12h 5.78 ± 0.21e 89.34 ± 4.34b 63.45 ± 3.02f
5 56.76 ± 2.61d 3.8 ± 0.15ef 7.47 ± 0.23cd 81.76 ± 3.56c 77.23 ± 5.23d
7.5 54.25 ± 1.87e 3.98 ± 0.09e 10.87 ± 0.27b 66.45 ± 3.32d 102.35 ± 6.39b
10 52.82 ± 3.02f 6.97 ± 0.21a 15.43 ± 0.31a 39.73 ± 2.10e 147.53 ± 9.34a
FI 2.5 59.52 ± 2.92c 3.8 ± 0.14ef 6.00 ± 0.16e 82.25 ± 4.76c 68.24 ± 3.02de
5 56.01 ± 2.63d 3.73 ± 0.13f 6.72 ± 0.13d 79.47 ± 4.78c 71.42 ± 2.83d
7.5 54.45 ± 1.03e 4.75 ± 0.17b 8.68 ± 0.23c 75.58 ± 4.76cd 88.46 ± 3.63c
10 53.46 ± 2.02f 4.42 ± 0.18c 10.8 ± 0.24b 69.27 ± 6.03d 94.57 ± 5.72bc
FXL 2.5 60.98 ± 2.23b 3.63 ± 0.12f 5.35 ± 0.06ef 85.68 ± 6.34b 61.57 ± 3.28f
5 61.72 ± 1.82b 3.98 ± 0.19e 5.78 ± 0.12e 79.86 ± 7.34c 68.35 ± 2.43de
7.5 62.81 ± 2.32ab 4.05 ± 0.21e 6.18 ± 0.21e 77.46 ± 4.39cd 73.32 ± 4.02d
10 64.78 ± 2.93a 4.23 ± 0.09d 5.60 ± 0.12ef 75.32 ± 5.47cd 73.25 ± 4.56d

Values are means ± standard deviations (n ¼ 2).

Values followed by different letters in the same column are significantly different (p < 0.05).

replaced by FS or FI, the WA decreased by 14.02% and 12.97%, among inulin molecules, which can weaken the interaction be-
respectively. It can be attributed to the high hydrophilicity of tween inulin and proteins. So the presence of FXL had the least
inulin. When inulin was dissolved in aqueous solution, there was effect on the ST and FQN. While Peressini and Sensidoni (2009)
vast hydroxyl groups exposed resulting in more water interaction reported that the extension of DT and ST of bread dough only
through hydrogen bonding. This could enhance the osmotic occur to the amount of HSI and HPX higher than 7.5% and 5%,
pressure of the water solution in the dough and inhabited the respectively, indicating that inulin had a better improvement
hydration of protein like the lubrication action of sugar (Juszczak impact on the dough with lower gluten content. For SD of dough, it
et al., 2012). On the other hand, Brennan et al. (2004) reported had different trends with the above parameters, which decreased
that inulin can form a barrier around the starch particles, which from 101.54 FU to 39.73 FU, 69.27 FU and 75.32 FU with 10%
inhabited starch swelling and reduced the WA. However, FXL had addition of FS, FI or FXL, respectively. This also suggested that three
different influence on the WA of dough, compared with FS and FI. kinds of inulin all can enhance the gluten strength and thus more
When the replacement level of FXL was less than 7.5%, no signif- significant improve the resistance to mixing capacity and farino-
icant increase was observed in WA. The influence of FXL on WA graph quality of dough.
was obvious only at the highest substitution level (10%), and the
WA increased by 5.45% compared with control. This difference
3.1.2. Effect of inulin on extensograph characteristics
could be due to the longer chains and less water solubility of FXL.
The results obtained from the extensograph analysis relating to
Toka
r et al. (2015) reported that the increase of WA was that the
the varying DP of inulin incorporation to dough are shown in
replacement of starch by inulin could form a complex connecting
Table 2. It can be seen that the E of control dough increased with the
zone between water and other components so that a larger
extension of proofing time. However, the E of dough enriched with
amount of water was enclosed in the network structure. However,
inulin had significant differences. When the concentration of FS or
Karolini-Skaradzinska et al. (2007) found that inulin with long-
FI was higher than 5%, respectively, the E of dough decreased with
chain reduced the WA of dough when 1%e4% flour was replaced,
the increasing of fermentation time. When the fermentation time
which was due to the inulin itself rather than the interactions of
was same, the E of dough with 5% addition of FS or FI all reached to
inulin with the components of flour. But the studies did not involve
the maximum value at a proofing time of 45min, which increased
to the substitution level higher than 4%.
by 49.30% and 38.19%, respectively. It indicated that the dough has
The DT of dough increased with the increasing addition levels of
reached the optimum development at 45min with 5% addition of FS
three kinds of inulin, which increased by 119.18%, 49.37%, and
or FI where the interactions of inulin with polymers cross-links
33.02% as a result of 10% substitution with FS, FI, and FXL, respec-
became strongest. The reason of this could be explained by the
tively. This can be explained by the competition of inulin with the
interactions between inulin and gliadins weaken the interactions of
flour mixture for the water during the mixing, which delayed the
gliadins and glutenins which can increase the E of dough (Liu et al.,
development of dough. It was also pointed that inulin caused the
2016a, b). But with the extension of the proofing time, there was a
small groups formation in the mixture by Aravind et al. (2012).
water migration and redistribution occurred to the gluten system,
Similar changes were also observed in the case of ST and FQN.
causing the reduction of E. While the E of FXL-enriched dough only
When 10% flour was replaced by FS, FI or FXL, the values of ST
increased with the substitution level lower than 5% and dropped
increased by 239.12%, 137.36% and 23.08%, and for FQN increased by
thereafter. There were no significant differences of E associated
141.85%, 55.03%, and 20.08%, respectively, suggesting that inulin
with the extension of proofing time. It can be argued that the
with different DP all increase the dough strength and the resistance
maximum level of FXL substitution is restricted to 2.5%. This
to the shear force. Among the three types, FS exerted the strongest
discrepancy could be due to the stronger interaction of FXL with
effects. It could be explained by the interactions between inulin and
glutenins rather than gliadins. The studies of Morris and Morris
proteins. The addition of inulin could enhance the emulsifying ac-
(2012) also showed that the E of dough reached to the maximum
tivity of protein or strengthen the stability of disulfide bond among
when the content of long-chain inulin was 3% or 4%, which was
protein in dough system, which improve the stability of three-
consistent with our study.
dimensional network structure in dough, resulting in the raise of
The R value of dough increased with the increasing of FS, FI
ST and FQN (Liu et al., 2016a, b). At the same time, there was an
and FXL, as well as the extending of proofing time. When 10% of
interaction between inulin and inulin (Peressini and Sensidoni,
wheat flour was displaced by FS, FI, or FXL, the value of R
2009). The higher DP of inulin caused a stronger interaction
increased by 149.17%, 141.25%, and 27.08% for proofing time of
208 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212

Table 2
Effect of inulin on the extensograph properties of dough.

Inulin Amount/% E/mm R/EU

45 min 90 min 135 min 45 min 90 min 135 min

d c b f i
0 144 ± 7.02 155 ± 8.53 167 ± 14.72 198 ± 9.72 216 ± 8.56 240 ± 3.78i
FS 2.5 149 ± 6.90d 170 ± 10.32b 178 ± 3.98ab 214 ± 10.82f 262 ± 8.48f 276 ± 8.96h
5 215 ± 7.09a 184 ± 8.64a 183 ± 8.92a 240 ± 7.93e 332 ± 9.48e 362 ± 14.96f
7.5 189 ± 7.18ab 173 ± 6.93ab 158 ± 7.92c 328 ± 11.89b 441 ± 4.95c 512 ± 13.86c
10 192 ± 10.34ab 164 ± 8.72bc 153 ± 9.02cd 346 ± 7.62a 536 ± 11.68b 598 ± 13.25a
FI 2.5 172 ± 8.82c 172 ± 5.25b 176 ± 5.82ab 213 ± 8.63e 265 ± 5.89f 289 ± 6.93h
5 199 ± 9.34b 183 ± 8.81a 177 ± 5.82ab 322 ± 9.92b 354 ± 12.78d 392 ± 10.02e
7.5 122 ± 3.76e 144 ± 4.01c 159 ± 8.28c 331 ± 8.36b 364 ± 4.94d 435 ± 8.64d
10 132 ± 7.82e 136 ± 9.82c 134 ± 3.13e 352 ± 10.01a 570 ± 12.06a 579 ± 11.85b
FXL 2.5 173 ± 11.34c 177 ± 5.92ab 176 ± 7.82ab 278 ± 7.82d 225 ± 8.47h 208 ± 7.46j
5 148 ± 7.98d 164 ± 6.28bc 165 ± 6.26b 218 ± 4.74f 224 ± 2.85h 234 ± 8.34i
7.5 139 ± 9.92e 131 ± 10.19e 144 ± 6.72d 194 ± 5.67g 242 ± 8.56g 248 ± 8.69i
10 132 ± 4.82f 140 ± 6.48d 142 ± 5.98d 288 ± 5.83c 260 ± 3.94f 305 ± 7.79g

Inulin Amount/% R/E Energy/cm2

45 min 90 min 135 min 45 min 90 min 135 min

0 1.41 ± 0.03f 1.46 ± 0.03h 1.77 ± 0.06f 47 ± 2.12f 60 ± 4.23f 100 ± 5.63e
FS 2.5 1.44 ± 0.09f 1.46 ± 0.03h 1.68 ± 0.10g 53 ± 1.43e 76 ± 2.21e 89 ± 4.24f
5 1.62 ± 0.04e 1.97 ± 0.03d 2.08 ± 0.09c 91 ± 8.32c 113 ± 6.46c 121 ± 4.25c
7.5 1.77 ± 0.04d 2.57 ± 0.16c 3.23 ± 0.31b 125 ± 3.13b 141 ± 2.57b 142 ± 5.69b
10 1.85 ± 0.06c 3.37 ± 0.12b 3.98 ± 0.27a 137 ± 2.45a 154 ± 4.68a 163 ± 8.57a
FI 2.5 1.21 ± 0.04h 1.53 ± 0.10g 1.94 ± 0.06e 63 ± 3.13d 76 ± 7.25e 93 ± 6.74ef
5 1.34 ± 0.03g 1.76 ± 0.06f 2.47 ± 0.07d 67 ± 9.34d 93 ± 6.34d 110 ± 9.37d
7.5 1.86 ± 0.10c 1.87 ± 0.05e 3.59 ± 0.23b 93 ± 2.42c 96 ± 6.24d 99 ± 4.95e
10 4.07 ± 0.85a 4.07 ± 0.31a 4.33 ± 0.25a 132 ± 7.36a 144 ± 7.23b 126 ± 7.47c
FXL 2.5 1.32 ± 0.07g 1.42 ± 0.12h 1.41 ± 0.03h 52 ± 4.23e 60 ± 1.23f 57 ± 3.52g
5 1.46 ± 0.05f 1.48 ± 0.11h 1.58 ± 0.06g 53 ± 8.96e 61 ± 4.42f 60 ± 3.64g
7.5 1.58 ± 0.03e 1.60 ± 0.08g 1.65 ± 0.04g 54 ± 4.22e 60 ± 1.75f 61 ± 2.64g
10 2.48 ± 0.18b 1.92 ± 0.12d 1.89 ± 0.03e 56 ± 4.23e 57 ± 3.26f 60 ± 1.85g

Values are means ± standard deviations (n ¼ 2).

Values followed by different letters in the same column are significantly different (p < 0.05).

135min, respectively. Liu et al. (2016a, b) reported that the 3.2. Effect of inulin on quality of steamed bread
addition of inulin can reduce the content of disulfide bond in
gluten, which related to the dough strength. So the increase of R 3.2.1. Water content, vaporization enthalpy and specific volume of
in our studies might mean that the interaction happened be- steamed bread
tween inulin and gluten-starch matrixes are strong enough to Table 3 shows the effect of inulin on physical and thermal
counteract the weakening effect of disulfide bonds on dough properties of fresh steamed bread (stored for 1 h) at room tem-
structure. However, the dough enriched with FXL had the most perature. The water content of steamed bread enriched with 5% FS
pronounced decrease in the disulfide bond of gluten, so the or 5% FI was significant lower than the control, and no significant
counteraction was the minimum. At the same time, with the difference with the 2.5% substitution of FXL. According to the
addition of FS and FI, the R/E of value showed a similar increasing studies of Rubel et al. (2015), water content of bread mainly de-
trend to that observed for R. When the concentration of FS or FI pends on the water absorption during dough preparation. The
reached to 10%, the R/E value increased by 124.86%, and 144.63% change of water content of steamed bread in Table 3 was in
for proofing time of 135min, respectively. While the increase agreement with the above results of the effect of inulin with
level of R/E value only increased with the increasing of FXL different DP on dough rheology in Table 1. And the reason could be
addition compared to FS or FI and no significant change with the explained by the fact of high water-retention capacity and swelling
extending of time. This mainly related to the ratio between R and characteristic of inulin. However, Hager et al. (2011) reported that
E. Higher value of R/E could produce a stiffer, less extensible and the addition of 6.8% inulin Raftilose P95 reduced the moisture of
higher fragile dough. Lu (2010) pointed that the R value of plain bread. For the change of water enthalpy of steamed bread, it had
dough generally ranges from 200 to 400 and the corresponding similar trends with the water content. Kerch et al. (2012) pointed
value of R/E is in 1e3. The energy of dough also increased with that enthalpy of water vaporization is proportional to water content
increasing addition levels of FS and FI, as well as the time. But for
the dough enriched FXL, the energy was higher than the control
only for a proofing time of 45min and there was no significant Table 3
change with the increase of substitution level. Effect of inulin on physical and thermal properties of fresh steamed bread.
In general, inulin addition can significantly improve the tensile
Inulin Moisture (%) Enthalpy (J/g) Specific volume (mL/g)
properties of dough. The lower DP of inulin had more obvious ef-
fects. This could be due to the interactions of inulin-inulin and 0% 39.37 ± 0.15a 636.05 ± 3.53a 2.94 ± 0.01c
5% FS 38.03 ± 0.09b 608.45 ± 7.99c 3.26 ± 0.01a
inulin-gluten matrix, which is helpful to the formation of dough 5%FI 38.15 ± 0.02b 622.37 ± 0.93b 3.08 ± 0.08b
network structure, thus enhancing the processing characteristics of 2.5%FXL 39.35 ± 0.16a 642.30 ± 2.65a 3.05 ± 0.06bc
dough. Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of 5% FS, 5%
Values are means ± standard deviations (n ¼ 3).
FI, or 2.5% FXL can produce the best effect for the flour products Mean values followed by different letters in the same column are significantly
processing. different (p < 0.05).
 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212 209

in bread network. Therefore, the results of vaporization enthalpy browning increased with the increase of inulin, and the effect of
also confirmed the effect of inulin on the WA and moisture of dough lower DP of inulin was the most significant. These differences are
and steamed bread. For specific volume, the addition of inulin all caused by the presence of low molecular weight glucose and
increased the specific volume of steamed bread. In particular, the FS fructose in the inulin which result in a stronger Maillard reaction
had the most significant effect, followed by FI. For the steamed during the baking. While there was less non-enzymatic browning
bread enriched with 2.5% of FXL, there was only a slight rise and during the steaming owing to the steaming temperature lower than
had no statistically significant. This may be linked to the yeat ac- baking temperature.
tivity, which are known to utilize the low molecular sugars during The share of a* value and b* value of the crust of steamed bread
the fermentation of dough, including short-chain inulin (Meyer and all increased with the substitution of different types of inulin. But a*
Peters, 2009). There are some glucose and fructose contained in FS value of steamed bread crumb did not influenced by the incorpo-
and FI, but less in FXL. On the other hand, it can be seen that the E of ration of inulin significantly (p > 0.05) and the b* had an obvious
dough in Table 2 also higher than the control with the addition of increased with substitution of inulin. While Rubel et al. (2015)
5% FS or 5% FI or 2.5% FXL. This also can enhance the specific volume observed that the crust of bread with 5% of FS was less red and
of steamed bread. Furthermore, these data in Table 3 also proved less yellow and Mandala et al. (2009) did not found significant
the results of rheological effect in Table 2. The studies of Ziobro et al. change on the crust color after the addition of inulin.
(2013) suggested that oligomeric inulin was dissolved and inte-
grated in bread cell structure, thus enhancing the stability of
3.2.3. Texture of steamed bread
network and gas-holding capacity, which increased the specific
Impacts of inulin addition on textures of fresh steamed bread
volume. However, the addition of 5% Fibrex and 5% GR producing a
(stored for 1 h) are presented in Table 5. It was observed that the
smaller loaf volumes were reported by Filipovi
c et al. (2015) and the
addition of different DP of inulin all had significant effects on the
reason is probably due to the dilution effect of inulin on gluten and
hardness, springiness, recovery, and cohesiveness. With the addi-
the interruption of gluten-starch matrix. This discrepancy was
tion of FS, FI and FXL, the hardness of steamed bread increased
perhaps related to the type of flour.
50.55%, 118.98% and 149.86%, respectively. This is consistent with
the results of Rubel et al. (2015). It might be assumed that greater
3.2.2. Color of steamed bread interactions among protein, starch and inulin occurred during the
Because the color can give an intuitive feeling to consumers, so steaming process. In our earlier studies, we have confirmed that
its change also is treated as an important physical indicator for there is a strong crosslinking effect between inulin and gluten
steamed bread quality. Table 4 summarizes the color value of crust which promotes compactness and uniformity of polymer network,
and crumb of steamed bread. L* values of crust and crumb of thus the crumb hardness was enhanced. At the same time, the
steamed bread enriched with inulin all were higher than that of the solubility of FXL increased with the rise of temperature, which
control, and the effect of FXL was the most significant, which could result in a more obvious cross-link with gluten due to
indicated that the addition of inulin can enhance the overall hydrogen bonding, therefore the effect of FXL was the most sig-
whiteness of steamed bread. This is attributed to the whiter color of nificant. However, the studies of Hager et al. (2011) showed that
inulin. Besides, the interaction between inulin and protein or starch hardness of the gluten-free bread with 4% or 8% addition of inulin
could form a more uniform organization of steamed bread, which HSI, GR, or HPX was all lower than the control stored for 2 h
was related to the lightness of steamed bread (Liu et al., 2016a, b). because the hydrocolloid nature of inulin could form softer gels.
According to Foschia et al. (2013), the long chain inulin also increase According to Mensink et al. (2015), the addition of inulin can result
the L* value of semolina pasta due to the nature of inulin. While in a faster and higher rigidity of gelation process due to an increase
Peressini and Sensidoni (2009) reported that the bread crust of inter-molecular crosslinking.
For the springiness of steamed bread, no significant change was
found in FS-enriched steamed bread compared with control, and
Table 4
Effect of inulin on the color of fresh steamed bread crust and crumb.
the addition of FI and FXL only caused a slight decline in the
springiness, indicating that inulin replacement do not cause the
Inulin Position L* a* b*
deterioration of steamed bread elasticity. The cohesiveness and
b c
0% Crust 73.46 ± 0.85 0.35 ± 0.06 15.98 ± 0.56b recovery showed a decrease trend with the addition of three types
5% FS 74.40 ± 0.40ab 0.16 ± 0.01a 17.81 ± 0.31a of inulin. And the higher DP of inulin is the more obvious. Cohe-
5% FI 75.13 ± 0.62ab 0.22 ± 0.02ab 17.60 ± 0.09a
siveness reflects the internal cohesion of steamed bread, decreased
2.5% FXL 75.42 ± 0.40a 0.30 ± 0.01bc 16.88 ± 0.38ab
cohesiveness presented that increased susceptibility for steamed
0% Crumb 63.68 ± 1.02a 0.53 ± 0.04a 12.43 ± 0.06c
bread to fracture and sticky rather than integrity during chewing.
5% FS 67.56 ± 0.55b 0.41 ± 0.06a 13.16 ± 0.24b
5% FI 69.11 ± 0.06b 0.44 ± 0.01a 14.04 ± 0.39a The lower recovery means that the steamed bread is easier to be
2.5% FXL 69.90 ± 1.33b 0.51 ± 0.05a 14.36 ± 0.06a damaged and deformed, which means that inulin-enriched
Values are means ± standard deviations (n ¼ 3).
steamed bread is more likely to stick to the surface. Mensink
Mean values followed by different letters in the same column are significantly et al. (2015) reported that higher molecular weight inulin gels
different (p < 0.05). were harder, more adhesive and less cohesive. So the FXL showed

Table 5
Effect of inulin on textural properties of fresh steamed bread.

Inulin Hardness Springiness Cohesiveness Recovery Chewiness

0% 7.32 ± 0.09c 0.92 ± 0.01a 0.73 ± 0.00a 0.35 ± 0.01a 4.91 ± 0.08c
5% FS 11.02 ± 1.54b 0.89 ± 0.01ab 0.66 ± 0.01b 0.28 ± 0.01b 6.48 ± 0.01b
5%FI 16.03 ± 2.07a 0.86 ± 0.02bc 0.63 ± 0.01c 0.26 ± 0.01c 8.74 ± 0.32a
2.5%FXL 18.29 ± 0.56a 0.83 ± 0.03c 0.59 ± 0.01d 0.20 ± 0.01d 8.98 ± 0.28a

Values are means ± standard deviations (n ¼ 3).

Mean values followed by different letters in the same column are significantly different (p < 0.05).
210 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212

a 300
1day
a 2day b
0 a
1day
3day a
250 2day
3day
b -5
b
b
200
relative hardness/%

relative springiness/%
c c -10
150
d c c
de d
de c
de -15 c cd
100 de de
e
e
e
f -20
50

0 -25
0% 5%/FS 5%/FI 2.5%/FXL 0% 5%/FS 5%/FI 2.5%/FXL

substitution/% substitution/%

c -20
1day -10
d 1day
2day
2day
-30
a 3day a
a 3day
-20
b
relative cohesiveness/%

-40
b c
relative recovery/%

c
c -30 d d
cd cd
-50 de e e
e e
e
f -40 f
f f
-60 f f

-50
-70

-80 -60
0% 5%/FS 5%/FI 2.5%/FXL 0% 5%/FS 5%/FI 2.5%/FXL
substitution/% substitution/%

e -2
1day
2day
-4 a 3day
b
-6 d bc
e
f
relative enthalpy/%

-8
g
h
-10
i
j
-12

k k
-14

-16
0% 5%/FS 5%/FI 2.5%/FXL
substituiton/%

Fig. 1. Relative hardness(a), relative springiness(b), relative recovery(c), relative cohesiveness(d) and relative enthalpy(e) of steamed bread with inulin addition after storage for 1,2,
and 3 days.
 D. Luo et al. / Journal of Cereal Science 75 (2017) 205e212
the most significant effect on the above parameters. At the same
time, with the addition of three kinds of inulin, an increasing trend
of chewiness was observed, which is mainly due to the increase of
steamed bread hardness.
3.3. Effect of inulin on crumb staling
The common method to measure staling kinetics of steamed
bread is texture analyzer. The relative change of texture parameters
including hardness, springiness and recovery all can directly reflect
the staling rate of steamed bread (Ziobro et al., 2013). Fig. 1 rep-
resented the relative hardness, springiness, recovery, cohesiveness
and enthalpy of steamed bread with and without the addition of
inulin after 1, 2, and 3 days of storage.
It is apparent that there was a significant influence of inulin and
storage time on the staling rate of steamed bread. The relative
firmness of control steamed bread had an increasing trend with
increasing storage time, regardless of inulin addition. And with the
incorporation of varying DP of inulin, the relative hardness of
steamed bread all had a more obvious rise after 1day of storage,
while after 2 days of storage, the relative hardness had no statis-
tically different and lower than the control at the third days. But the
hardness of control steamed bread was still softer after 3 days of
storage, which was due to the lower initial firmness of crumb. For
relative springiness of steamed bread with inulin, there was a sig-
nificant reduction than that of the control during whole storage.
The relative recovery and cohesiveness with the addition of inulin
were all less than those of the control after 1day of storage, but with
the storage of 3 days, both of them were all higher than those of
control. In these cases, the addition of inulin with different DP all
restrain the hardening rate and the weakening rate of the internal
interaction between components of steamed bread during storage,
which could improve the storage stability of steamed bread.
As we all know, starch retrogradation and interactions between
starch and gluten are often considered as the most important fac-
tors in the increase of firmness and decrease in springiness, re-
covery and cohesiveness of steamed bread (Ziobro et al., 2013). But
Purhagen et al. (2008) revealed that water migration from crumb to
crust as well as between hydrophilic components of gluten or
starch have a more obvious effect on the staling of steamed bread
than starch retrogradation. It can be seen from Fig. 1 (e) that relative
water vaporization enthalpy of steamed bread presented a
declining trend with the increasing of storage, which can be
explained by the loss of water during storage. With the addition of
three kinds of inulin, the relative water enthalpy was all higher than
the control during storage, while the extent of change was all
greater than that of control, indicating that inulin accelerated the
water migration. Combining the results of above texture parame-
ters, it can be proved that inulin hindered water release from the
starch granules and the interaction between starch and water
released from gluten during the aging, and this water migrates to
the crust of the steamed bread, which affect the retogradation rate
and extent of starch (Kerch et al., 2008).
4. Conclusions
The results from current study has shown that the substitution
of varying DP of inulin in a plain flour can significantly affects the
dough rheology characteristics and the steamed bread quality.
When 10% flour was replaced by FS and FI, WA decreased 14.02%
and 12.97%, respectively. The influence of FXL on WA was obvious
only at the 10% substitution level. FS, FI and FXL all enhanced the
DT, ST and FQN and reduced the SD. During the fermentation pro-
cess, the E of dough significantly improved when the addition of FS
and FI less than 5%. The R, R/E, and energy all increased with the
211
increasing of FS and FI as well as the time. For the dough enriched
FXL, the E decreased with the increasing of substitution level, while
the R, and R/E presented an increasing trend with increase of
substitution level. And no significant change was observed in en-
ergy with the increasing of concentration.
With 5% FS, 5% FI and 2.5% FXL substitution, the brightness,
specific volume and initial hardness of steamed bread increased, at
the same time, the water content, enthalpy, initial springiness, re-
covery character and cohesiveness of steamed bread decreased. The
effect of FXL was most significant. During the storage, the presence
of inulin all slower the change rate of relative hardness, relative
recovery, and relative cohesiveness of steamed bread decreased
and the change of relative enthalpy increased with the presence of
three kinds of inulin, which indicated that inulin inhibited the
staling rate of steamed bread.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371832),
Henan Province University Science and Technology Innovation
Talent Support Program (16HASTIT020), Science and Technology
Innovation Team of Henan University of Science and Technology
(2015XTD007), Foundation for University Youth Key Teacher by
Henan Province of China (2012GGJS-076) and SRTP (2016070) of
Henan University of Science and Technology.
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