A comparison of oat flour and oat bran-based bread formulations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate for quality characteristics and β-glucan analysis during different stages of the oat flour and/or oat bran based bread baking process. Design/methodology/approach: A 100 per cent wheat flour (WF) formulation was substituted with 30, 50 and 70 per cent oat flour (OF) or oat bran (OB) to improve its nutritional quality characteristics of bread. The flour blends were evaluated for quality characteristics (loaf volume, texture profile analysis) and β-glucan analysis during different stages of the bread baking process. Findings: A significant decrease in specific volume, number of cells and crumb brightness was observed with increasing WF substitution levels with OF or OB. The crumb hardness was observed to be negatively correlated with specific volume of OF (r =-0.90, p < 0.0001) and OB (r =-0.84, p < 0.0001) bread. The level of β-glucan was significantly reduced by 37.8 -42.9 per cent in dough during 45 min fermentation time, which indicating the enzymatic action. The β-glucan content of OF and OB bread was found to increase from 0.13 g/100 g bread (db) (control) to 1.35 and 3.61 g β-glucan/100 g bread (db) for 70 per cent WF substitution with OF and OB, respectively. Results show that a bread of acceptable quality can be prepared by substituting WF by up to 50 per cent for OF and up to 30 per cent by OB. Practical implications: Replacing white bread with oat flour/bran containing β-glucan facilitates human consumption of soluble dietary fibre. Originality/value: The paper provides a comparative evaluation of the oat flour and/or bran based bread and its critical factors influencing the level of β-glucan during baking process, which attributes to improve the nutritional quality.