Infant dairy-cereal mixture for the preparation of a gluten free cream using enzymatically modified rice flour

•Use of enzymatically modified rice flour for the formulation of an infant food is innovative.•It is an option for a gluten free product.•Uses flour from broken kernels.•Well accepted by sensory analysis in comparison with products in the market.

The hydrolysis of rice flour produces a sweet-tasting product with an agreeable aroma, which could be well accepted by infants. The objective of the present study was to determine the feasibility of developing an infant food in the form of a powdered pre-mix for making a cereal cream, based on sugar, powdered milk and rice flour modified by α-amylase and amyloglucosidase. The effect of the ingredients on the properties of the dry mix and of the cereal cream after preparation, were evaluated using a Simplex design. The formulation with 5 g 100 g−1 refined sugar (sucrose), 40 g 100 g−1 milk powder and 55 g 100 g−1 modified rice flour was selected, considering the highest values for solubility in water (49.8 g 100 g−1) and in milk (46.4 g 100 g−1), the luminosity (88.8) of the dry mix, and the firmness (0.19 N) of the prepared formulation. The infant food obtained a mean score of 8.0 for sensory acceptance, and had characteristics similar to commercial products. We concluded that it was feasible to produce an infant food with the enzymatically modified rice flour. The dry mix had advantages when compared with commercial products with respect to economic and ecological factors (rice flour from broken kernels).