Comparative study of rice bran protein concentrate and egg albumin on gluten-free bread properties

•Specific volume and crumb porosity of GF bread was improved by rice bran protein.•Rice bran protein concentrate possesses the desirable sensory attributes of GF bread.•The 2% enrichment of rice bran protein concentrate in GF bread reduced staling rate.•The advantages of rice bran protein concentrate over egg albumin were proposed.

Gluten-free (GF) based products have been studying for several years especially for quality improvement by enriching with proteins. A common protein source is egg albumin, but it has limitation for using causes of allergenic character. So, aim of this study was to replace egg albumin by rice bran protein concentrates which is a non-allergy protein in order to improve the quality of GF bread. Rice bran, a by-product, was used as starting material for rice bran protein concentrate (RBPC) preparation under alkaline-acid extraction technique. The obtained RBPC was composed of 68.07 ± 0.54% protein (dry basis). For baking trials, the addition of RBPC had strongly influenced the rheological properties, especially elastic modulus (G′) of GF batters during oscillation, and the relative elasticity of final GF breads. Breads enriched with 2% RBPC, and a combination of 1% egg albumin and 1% RBPC had the highest specific volume (P < 0.05). Additionally, crumb porosity and sensory attributes were improved. RBPC also showed higher efficacy to inhibit bread staling than egg albumin. This study suggested that RBPC could be used as a protein source for GF bread.