Project: Improved fibre enriched baked goods

Project team: Fred Gates
Member subscription funded project
Running: January 2013 – December 2015
Project Number: 128876

Consumption of wholegrain/fibre enriched bread and other baked goods remains low despite considerable evidence linking diets rich in fibre to reduced risks of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There is scope for developing new products to appeal to consumer interest in healthy products by using cereals other than wheat and introducing products other than bread. Of particular interest are oats, barley and pseudocereals (such as buckwheat). Soluble fibres (e.g. arabinoxylose, β–glucan or inulin) provide an alternative to cellulose–rich wheat bran and introduce a different set of challenges for processing. These fibres are light in colour and may be more acceptable to consumers. Considerable academic research has been carried out into the use of pre–treatments to reduce the negative impact of fibre addition on bread quality. The feasibility of applying these techniques in plant bakeries will be evaluated in this work.