Using Pulses in Baked Products: Lights, Shadows, and Potential Solutions

Abstract

Nowadays, consumers are more conscious of the environmental and nutritional benefits of foods. Pulses—thanks to both nutritional and health-promoting features, together with their low environmental impact—satisfy the demand for high-protein/high-fiber products. However, their consumption is still somewhat limited in Western countries, due to the presence of antinutrient compounds including phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, and some undigested oligosaccharides, which are responsible for digestive discomfort. Another limitation of eating pulses regularly is their relatively long preparation time. One way to increase the consumption of pulses is to use them as an ingredient in food formulations, such as bread and other baked products. However, some sensory and technological issues limit the use of pulses on an industrial scale; consequently, they require special attention when combined with cereal-based products. Developing formulations and/or processes to improve pulse quality is necessary to enhance their incorporation into baked products. In this context, this study provides an overview of strengths and weaknesses of pulse-enriched baked products focusing on the various strategies—such as the choice of suitable ingredients or (bio)-technological approaches—that counteract the negative effects of including pulses in baked goods.

Modifying Faba Bean Protein Concentrate Using Dry Heat to Increase Water Holding Capacity

“…Faba bean protein has been used in pasta production to increase protein content [ 9 , 10 , 11 ] without negatively influencing product quality when replacing up to 30% of traditional ingredients. Further applications could include baking [ 12 , 13 ] and use as binders and nutritional enhancers in meat products [ 14 ]. It is also used in meat analogue products such as Beyond Sausages (Beyond Meat, El Segundo, CA, USA), Pulled Oats (Gold And Green, Helsinki, Finland), or Crab Free Cakes (Good Catch, New York City, NY, USA).…”

Flour for Home Baking: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Supermarket Products Emphasising the Whole Grain Opportunity

“…Among the novel flour products, broccoli, sweet potato and hemp flour were also very high in dietary fibre, even higher than legume flour. Legume flour has been investigated for suitability in baking [ 34 , 35 ], and when mixed with other grains to make bread, biscuits and other baked products. The amino acid profile of legumes is known to be complementary to cereal grains, improving the nutritional properties.…”

“…However, legume varieties with lower levels of antinutrients would be preferred [ 36 ]. Lentils, chickpeas and peas have been trialed, with acceptable results where chemical leavening is also used [ 34 ]. High-quality bread is more difficult to produce with legume flour, as the protein in legumes do not form a gluten network and reduce the ability of the wheat proteins in forming visco-elastic properties, limiting the incorporation of air and therefore gas retention, impacting on the structure of the crumb and overall texture.…”

“…The competitive nature of legume flour in a bread would be more detrimental in a wholemeal bread product, where the bran also has an impact, slicing through gluten strands and affecting the overall structure of the gluten matrix. So where protein and dietary fibre content would be improved through the addition of legume flour, the wheat flour would almost certainly need to be refined, although Brescianai et al comments that studies often do not specify any details on the type of base flour, making comparisons between studies difficult [ 34 ] and conclusions regarding the optimal formulation an opportunity for future research.…”

Current Trends in the Realm of Baking: When Indulgent Consumers Demand Healthy Sustainable Foods

“…Legume flours possess a high content of proteins with an amino acid profile complementary to that of cereals. As a result, the enrichment of breads with these flours has received significant attention over the last years, as revised in this Special Issue by Bresciani and Martí [3]. However, the incorporation of legume flours into baked goods usually results in lower organoleptic quality and the recipe must be re-adjusted to minimize these detrimental effects, as reported by Cunha et al [4].…”