Examining the bubble structure and antioxidant activity of pea fibre-enriched bread using image and texture analysis, ultrasound analysis, and antioxidant assays

Abstract

The addition of pea fibre to wheat bread supports the growing trend of improving health through diet. Various evaluation tools (bread scoring, C-cell, texture profile analysis, and ultrasound) were used to monitor the sensory and mechanical quality of air bubbles in bread. Different pea fibre particle sizes (250, 125, 180, 90 μm) were added at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 g/serving into a bread formulation. Improvements in specific loaf volume were observed when water absorption was optimized. Adequate water absorption mitigated the high dough viscosity effect of pea fibre. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay was used to measure antioxidant activity of pea fibre. All particle sizes of pea fibres had substantially greater antioxidant scavenging ability compared to wheat flour. The DPPH scavenging activity of pea fibre approached that of ascorbic acid by the end of the assay. Fibre-enriched bread had higher antioxidant activity compared to that of the control bread.