Nutritional and Functional Added Value of Oat, Kamut, Spelt, Rye and Buckwheat Versus Common Wheat in Breadmaking

Background: Multicereal/pseudocereal blends based on major and minor seeds with high nutritional profile appear as a promising strategy, hardly explored, to obtain enhanced value grain-based foods such as bread.

Results: In a preliminary stage the suitability of minor/ancient cereals (rye, oat, Kamut wheat, spelt wheat) and pseudocereals (buckwheat) was assessed in single (100% of wheat flour replacement) and multigrain (from 20 to 44% of wheat flour replacement) matrices. The research allowed identification of the qualitative (oat, rye, buckwheat) and quantitative (up to 75% of wheat flour replacement) grains in the mixed matrices providing enhancement of nutritional quality (higher protein content, higher mineral content, lower digestible starch, higher viscous fibre content, higher resistant starch content, source of antioxidants) and minimisation of techno-functional impairment and sensory depreciation of the resulting breads.

Conclusion: The quality profile of associated mixtures of oat, rye, buckwheat and common wheat flours (20:20:20:40 w/w/w/w) endorsed the proposed grain blend as suitable to make highly nutritious, modern and innovative baked goods meeting functional and sensory standards in terms of nutritional added value (improved dietary fibre fractions, minerals and antioxidant activity, slower starch hydrolysis), palatability (high sensory scores), convenience (extended keepability during storage) and easy handling during processing.