8The incorporation of proteins has been long established in the bakery industry to obtain 9 enriched products, but they also take active part on the making process of sweet baked 10 goods. This study was focused on assessing the role of proteins on the rheology and 11 quality of wheat free muffins by using rice flour. Six rice based formulations were used:

11Gluten free foodstuff development has attracted in the last decade great attention due to

17Numerous bread-like gluten free products have been lately developed due to the rising 18 demand on wheat free foods. A range of parameters has been used to describe these 19 products, but there is no general agreement about the most suitable assessment to 20 characterize them. The objective of this research was to characterize diverse gluten free 21 like breads (GFB) in order to discriminate them and to establish possible correlations 22 among descriptive parameters of GFB features determined by instrumental methods and 23 sensory analysis. Statistical analysis showed that all physical, physicochemical 24 characteristics (specific volume, moisture content, water activity, L*, a*, b*, hue and 25 chroma), hydration properties (swelling, water holding capacity and water binding 26 capacity), texture profile analysis (TPA) parameters (hardness, springiness, chewiness, 27 cohesiveness and resilience) and structural analysis of the crumbs (number of cells and 28 total area) significantly (p<0.05) discriminated between the GFB types tested. Sensory 29 analysis revealed great divergences in crumb appearance, odour, springiness, 30 crumbliness and colour of samples, but not significant differences (p<0.05) in flavour, 31 aftertaste and hardness of them. Certain significant correlations were established within 32 the parameters determined by instrumental methods. Hydration properties of the crumb 33 showed to be positively correlated with cohesiveness and resilience. Significant 34 correlations, but scientifically meaningless, were observed among the instrumental and 35 sensory parameters, because correlation coefficients were rather low, which represent 36 very weak or low linear correlations (r≤0.35). The principal component analysis showed 37 that sensory parameters described in this study and also hydration properties besides 38 texture parameters would be suitable for characterizing bread like gluten free products. 39 Highlights: 40• Gluten-free breads are evaluated by instrumental and sensory parameters 41 3• Physicochemical characteristics discriminate gluten-free breads 42• Correlations among sensory and instrumental characteristics are established 43Key words: gluten-free, bread, quality, crumb, sensory characteristics. 44 45 4 Introduction 47Celiac disease (CD), also known as gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is a chronic disorder 48 of the small intestine caused by exposure to gluten in the genetically predisposed 49 individuals [1,2]. It is characterized by a strong immune response to certain amino acid 50 sequences found in the prolamin fractions of wheat, barley, rye, and certain varieties of 51 oats, resulting in inflammation and damage of the small-intestine mucosa and leading to 52 malabsorption of nutrients [1,3]. Nowadays, the general prevalence of CD was 53 estimated to be 1 in 300, although population-based screening studies carried out in 542008 suggest that the prevalence may be 1 in 100 [4]. Persons with CD are unable to 55 consume some of the most common products in the market, including br...