Elucidation of rheological, microstructural, water mobility, and noodle-making properties of rice flour affected by turanose

The effects of turanose on the physicochemical properties of rice flour systems (aqueous suspension, dough, and noodles) were investigated in terms of rheology, microstructure, and water mobility. Inclusion of turanose increased the pasting viscosities of rice flour by maintaining a closely-packed structure at high temperatures that was confirmed by the real-time microscopic measurements during heating. The elevated probability of intergranular interactions by turanose apparently raised both storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli of the rice flour pastes as well as their respective viscosities. NMR spin-spin relaxation times showed two distinct water populations in the turanose-rice flour samples. The Mixolab experiments demonstrated that the rice doughs with higher levels of turanose exhibited greater dough stability as well as higher degrees of starch gelatinization and retrogradation. Furthermore, the extruded rice noodles containing turanose exhibited a higher expansion ratio and a firmer texture that contributed to lowering the cooking loss by 24.5%.