Selenized chickpea sourdoughs for the enrichment of breads

Abstract The use of chickpeas sprouted with sodium selenite as ingredient for sourdough bread enrichment is explored. Backslopping was followed to obtain selenium enriched sourdoughs produced with sprouted chickpeas. Afterwards, breads containing 150 or 300 g/kg lyophilized chickpea sourdoughs with or without selenium (SeGCS) were produced. The effects on dough rheology, bread features and nutritional properties with emphasis in Se content were assessed. A positive effect of sprouted chickpea in generation of organic acid during fermentation and an increase of LAB bacteria was observed during sourdough and dough stages. In bread, the increase in the level of sourdough or selenium values were accompanied by a decrease in the volume, crumb resilience, higher density and lower number of gas cells that were less prone to recover after compression. The serving of 85 g of bread (34 g/100 g of moisture) prepared with 300 g/kg of SeGCS sourdough can meet 100% of the recommended daily Se intake (55 μg/day). Moreover, the combination of pulse flours with cereal flours, the use of sprouted flours and sourdough technologies offer new alternatives to generate an array of enriched breads.