Gluten-free frozen dough: Influence of freezing on dough rheological properties and bread quality

The freezing process at different steps of breadmaking is widely used to improve fresh bread availability for the consumer. The consequences of a freezing step on wheat dough and bread, and the way to reduce its negative impacts have been studied for years. Nevertheless, few works report studies on gluten-free doughs and breads. This work investigates the effect of unfermented frozen dough process on the properties of gluten-free dough and the quality of bread. Rheological oscillation tests showed that viscoelastic properties were unchanged for fresh and thawed doughs. However flow tests exhibit an effect of freezing on consistency index and flow behaviour index. Regarding the quality of bread, gluten-free breads obtained by frozen dough process had lower specific volumes and harder crumbs than conventional gluten-free breads (unfrozen breads). Distribution of gas cells was more homogeneous with a freezing step. Crust colour characteristics were also modified by the freezing step.