Understanding starch organisation in gluten-free pasta from rice flour

Starches extracted from parboiled rice flour and pasta samples produced by two extrusion processes – a conventional method carried out at 50 °C and an extrusion-cooking process at 115 °C – were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) analysis. Molecular changes induced by both pasta-making process and following cooking in boiling water were also investigated using iodine absorption properties of samples expressed as the ratio of absorption to scattering spectra (K/S) and X-ray diffraction. A decrease in polymer chain mobility and iodine binding capacity were observed after pasta-making process. While the characteristic A-type crystalline pattern remained, the exposure to iodine vapor changed the peak intensity of starch samples, especially at 0.97 aw. The higher melting temperature of pasta samples in comparison with parboiled rice flour reflected the decrease in mobility of the amorphous regions detected by K/S spectral analysis. The pasta making-process also affected the molecular size distribution of starch samples. In particular, the elution peak shifted toward lower fraction numbers with increasing extrusion temperature, showing a higher molecular size for starch after the extrusion-cooking. All the differences detected between starch samples according to extrusion conditions were deleted during cooking. Compared to the uncooked samples, starch from cooked pasta showed higher K/S value at all wavelengths, highlighting the increase in mobility of the amorphous region. Moreover, beside the increase in melting temperature, a decrease in endothermic enthalpy was detected, confirming the loss of order observed by X-ray diffraction.