Evidence for different supramolecular arrangements in pasta from durum wheat (Triticum durum) and einkorn (Triticum monococcum) flours

The effects of the replacement of einkorn flour on pasta proteins aggregation were studied by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size exclusion high performance chromatography. Pasta was produced replacing durum wheat semolina with an increasing amount of einkorn flour (30, 50 and 100%). The polymeric protein structure of flours and related pasta and pasta mixture was determined by protein subunits composition and size of polymeric proteins. The unextractability of polymeric protein was related to the unextractable protein fraction and to the determination of -SH/-SS groups. Durum wheat semolina and einkorn flours increased their unextractable and polymeric fractions during pasta processing. The unexpected results derived from the areas of unextractable fractions and total and large unextractable polymeric fractions of 70/30 semolina/einkorn pasta mixture that were lower than those of 50/50 semolina/einkorn pasta mixture. Although the semolina flour contained more gluten proteins than einkorn flour, a higher aggregation was registered for 50/50 semolina/einkorn flour pasta. These results suggested that a different assessment of gluten network occurred in pasta mixture and it was regulated by a self-assembling machine influenced by nature of HMW-GS. The 50/50 semolina/einkorn pasta mixture determined a supramolecular structure in the developing of its network architecture.