Functional characterization of steam jet‐cooked buckwheat flour as a fat replacer in cake‐baking

BACKGROUND: With rising consumer awareness of obesity, the food industry has a market‐driven impetus to develop low‐fat or fat‐free foods with acceptable taste and texture. Fancy buckwheat flour was thus subjected to steam jet‐cooking and the performance of the resulting product in cake‐baking was evaluated as a fat replacer. RESULTS: Steam jet‐cooking caused structural breakdown and starch gelatinization of buckwheat flour, thus increasing its water hydration properties. In the pasting measurements, steam jet‐cooked buckwheat flour exhibited high initial viscosity, while no peak viscosity was observed. Also, the suspensions of steam jet‐cooked buckwheat flour exhibited shear‐thinning behaviors, which were well characterized by the power law model. When shortening in cakes was replaced with steam jet‐cooked buckwheat gels, the specific gravity of cake batters significantly increased, consequently affecting cake volume after baking. However, shortening replacement with steam jet‐cooked buckwheat up to 20% by weight appeared to be effective in producing cakes as soft as the control without volume loss. CONCLUSION: When buckwheat flour was thermomechanically modified by steam jet‐cooking, it was successfully incorporated into cake formulations for shortening up to 20% by weight, producing low‐fat cakes with comparable volume and textural properties to the control. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry