Emulsifiers as technological improvers in the development of baked microwave bread produced from gluten-free frozen dough.

The application of emulsifiers is an alternative to circumvent technological problems in gluten-free bread. This work aimed to evaluate the performance of soy lecithin (x1=0-2%), distillate monoglyceride (x2=0-2%) and diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono and diglycerides (DATEM) (x3=0-1%) in flour basis, using a simplex-centroid mixture design (P<0.10; R2>0.80), in the frozen dough for the elaboration of gluten-free bread baked in a microwave oven. The doughs were prepared by the two-stage method and divided into 65g portions. Half of the portions were frozen and stored at -18°C for seven days, thawed and fermented at 37ºC. The other half was fermented on the same day of processing. The baking was performed in a microwave oven (490W for 1.5min). Positive effects were observed in the dough volume increase, where the ternary component between emulsifiers had the best effect on this parameter (β123=44729) and DATEM had the most significant effect as a pseudocomponent (β3=3074). Similar behavior was also observed in the bread specific volume after the freeze/thawing cycle, for which the results ranged from 2.01 to 2. 45L.kg-1 for the trials and 1.92L. kg-1 for the standard. There was a specific volume loss with the freezing cycle, associated with forming ice crystals that penetrate yeast cells, reducing cell viability and fermentative capacity. The results for the firmness of the crumb for bread ranged from 4.34 to 6.32N for trials and 7.50N for the standard before freezing. The combination between lecithin/DATEM (β13=-5.56) and monoglyceride/ DATEM
(β23=-6.46) contributed to the reduction of firmness values. After the cold chain, firmness ranged from 7.33 to 10.60N for trials and 12.08N to the standard, and the interaction between lecithin/DATEM (β13=-6.51) favored the crumb softness. Emulsifiers improved technical characteristics related to the development of dough and bread, may cause positive impacts on the sensory properties of the product.