Thermal properties of batter systems formulated by combinations of different flours

There is an increasing consumer preference for reduced oil content in fried food products. The amount of fat absorbed by deep fried foods can be modified using appropriate coatings such as batter and breading systems. Coatings also change the heat transfer characteristics of the composite products. The goal of this study was to determine some thermal properties of selected batter mixes that are commonly used for deep fat frying of chicken products. Three types of flour-based batter mixes were used. These were mixtures of wheat and rice (WR), wheat and corn (WC), and corn and rice (CR) flours with salt and different methylcellulose (MC) levels. The differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to measure glass transition temperature (Tg), gelatinization temperature (TG), ice-melting temperature (Tm) and enthalpy (ΔHG) of the different batter formulations. Salt and MC greatly influenced the thermal properties of batter systems as they increased TG, but depressed Tm. Adding rice and corn flours to wheat flour based batters apparently changed the thermal properties. Corn flour based batters required considerable more energy for gelatinization during the cooking process.