The impact of salt and alkali on gluten polymerization and quality of fresh wheat noodles

•Gluten polymerizes during noodle cooking by disulfide bond formation.•Addition of NaCl reduces the extent of gluten polymerization.•Addition of kansui increases intermolecular disulfide bond formation.•Addition of kansui induces dehydroalanine-derived cross-linking.•Optimal texture was observed for noodles containing 0.2–1.5% kansui or 2.0% NaCl.

We investigated the impact of table (NaCl) and alkaline (kansui) salts on changes to the gluten network during fresh wheat noodle production and cooking. Noodle production did not markedly change the gluten structure. In contrast, cooking increased gluten's average molecular weight by disulfide bond formation or reshuffling as evidenced by the decrease of protein extractability. Addition of NaCl (0.5 up to 3.0 weight % on flour basis) to the recipe reduced the extent of gluten polymerization during cooking. Kansui (0.2 up to 1.5 weight %) increased intermolecular disulfide bond formation. Furthermore, amino acid analysis revealed that kansui induced the formation of dehydroalanine-derived cross-links lanthionine and lysinoalanine. Optimal firmness was observed for noodles containing either 0.2–1.5% kansui or 2.0% NaCl. However, the addition of kansui reduced noodle nutritional quality, and high levels of table (2.0–3.0%) or alkaline (1.0–1.5%) salt increased cooking losses.