Effects of wheat gluten addition on dough structure, bread quality and starch digestibility of whole wheat bread

Summary Whole wheat bread is poor in quality, and it is necessary to use certain methods to improve bread texture and glycaemic index, such as adding exogenous protein. This study evaluated the effects of adding different proportions of gluten (focus on exogenous protein enrichment) on dough structure, bread quality, and starch digestibility, focusing on mixing properties, rheological properties, pasting properties, microstructure, basic quality, and starch digestibility. Dough microstructure results showed that gluten addition helped to form a more complete gluten network. The bread quality results showed that gluten‐enriched bread had larger specific volume, lower baking loss, and better textural quality. Starch digestibility results showed that gluten addition slowed down starch digestion to some extent. The experimental results indicated that 40% added gluten could produce bread samples with optimal quality. The subject systematically studied the effect of gluten enrichment on the quality of whole wheat bread, which is a guide to the application.