Disorders related to human health involving proteins that form the gluten network are increasingly in society, justifying the need to offer bakery products for this market niche. This study aimed to gather important information about the challenges involving technological production in the gluten-free bakery market. The approach encompasses the development of frozen dough for gluten-free baking, the use of cryoprotectants to maintain cell viability during the freeze-thawing step, the application of emulsifiers to improve the quality of the bread and the baking by an unconventional method using the microwaves. The introduction of frozen dough in the gluten-free bakery sector represents an interesting tool. However, these bread formulations require a higher amount of water compared to a traditional bread formulation (70 to 120 %), which makes the freezing and thawing steps extremely challenging, especially when it comes to the biopreservation of yeast cell viability. Cryopreservation with isolated and/or combined application of penetrating (glycerol) and non-penetrating (sucrose, fructo-oligosaccharide, trehalose, proteins and hydrocolloids) cryoprotectants promotes changes in the viscosity of the medium and is an excellent alternative for the maintenance of the microorganism responsible for the fermentation process. The appropriate choices of cryoprotectants, as well as the control of the freezing and thawing and baking processes, are important steps in the production line, to guarantee products with adequate technological and sensory qualities.

People with celiac disease, wheat allergy, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity required bakery products without gluten. However, gluten-free bread has a high rate of starch retrogradation during shelf life, resulting in loss of softness in the bread crumbs. The inclusion of frozen doughs for gluten-free bread can provide a feasible solution to increase product supply with high technological and sensory quality, providing fresh bread with uniform characteristics. The biggest challenge in the frozen dough for gluten-free bread is related to the high amount of water added to the dough (70-120 % - flour basis) because the ice crystals formed during the freezing step can cause damage to yeast. The use of cryoprotectants in the dough is an alternative for preserving yeast during freezing and cold chain maintenance. This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of fructo-oligosaccharide, hydrolyzed soy protein, and yeast extract as a cryoprotectant in the gluten-free frozen dough and the evaluation of bread quality. Through the Response Surface Methodology, using a Simplex-Centroid Mixture Design, the cryoprotectants were evaluated up to a concentration of 5 % (flour basis) with freezing of the dough for 7 days at -18 °C. The results showed that with the use of cryoprotectants, there was an increase in volume increase of the doughs, in the specific volume of the bread, and the softness of the crumb. The use of 69 % fructo-oligosaccharide and 31 % hydrolyzed soy protein, without the yeast extract, was considered as the optimal formulation for the tested cryoprotectants, with a probability of 79.60 % of success obtained by the desirability function. These levels promoted a better biopreservation of yeast fermentation power and resulting in an improved crumb softness and specific volume at 46 and 40 %, respectively, compared to the standard sample.

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