334 The role of starch interaction behaviour, pasting properties and gelatinisation temperature in pasta quality.

J. VANSTEELANDT (1), M.-C. Hythier (2), J. Abécassis (2), and J. A. Delcour (1). (1) K. U. Leuven, Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Belgium; (2) INRA, Laboratory of Cereal Technology, Montpellier, France.

Commercial semolina was fractionated into starch, gluten, sludge and water extractables. To change the starch interaction behaviour, surface proteins and surface lipids were removed and starch granule size distribution was changed. Moreover, starch fraction was hydroxypropylated, annealed or cross-linked to change its gelatinisation and pasting properties. Reconstituted pasta was made with control and treated starches, dried (70 C) and quality was assessed. Compared with the pasta made from the starting semolina material, all reconstituted pasta samples had higher minimum cooking times and improved pasta quality, probably because of the full gluten development that occurred during the fractionation procedure. Results suggest that use of starches with changed interaction behaviour have none or only a very limited influence on pasta quality. Also, a hypothesis ascribing a role to both protein, ultrastructure and starch was suggested. In this hypothesis, gluten are very important towards pasta quality as an ultrastructure forming agent. However, once gluten ultrastructure is formed, gel properties of the starch entrapped in the ultrastructure compartments become predominant. Pasta quality can be improved by using starches with improved pasting and gelling properties.