The effect of Chios mastic gum addition on the characteristics of rice dough and bread

- The effect of mastic gum (0.5-20.0 g/100 g) on rice dough and bread was tested.
- Gum significantly impacted dough rheological behavior at 30 °C and during heating.
- The impact of gum on crumb texture characteristics was weak.
- Due to typical gum flavor only breads with 0.5-1.5 g/100 g were acceptable.

The applicability of Chios mastic gum (MG) in gluten-free breadmaking was investigated in rice flour blended with 0.5-20.0 g/100 g of gum. The presence of MG significantly (P < 0.05) increased Hencky strain from 0.726 to 0.730-0.738 and peak stress from 2.5 kPa to 7.3-10.4 kPa during elongation test. The presence of MG strengthened dough during frequency sweeps at 30 °C and during heating from 30 to 90 °C. Bread evaluation revealed limited applicability of MG. Loaf volume was not significantly (P < 0.05) impacted by the presence of MG. High rice crumb hardness was significantly improved only in bread with 0.5 g/100 g. Rising amounts of MG generally increased rice bread hardness, which may be related to the creation of small pores (0.0-2.0 g/100 g), nonporous areas (2.5-5.0 g/100 g) and the formation of dry crumb belt (10.0-20.0 g/100 g). The typical MG flavor reduced the overall acceptability of breads; only breads with 0.5-1.5 g/100 g of gum were acceptable for consumers.