DESCRIPTION

The present invention generally relates to the technical field of the food industry, and particularly concerns a method for preparing a food bakery product that includes at least one gluten- containing flour.

It is known growing part of the world population suffers varying degrees of gluten intolerance, also called celiac disease. It's always a high need for food to be freely consumed by people with such intolerance.

The object of the present invention is to overcome at least partly the above drawback, by providing a method for the preparation of a bakery food product that can be freely consumed by people who are intolerant to gluten to varying degrees, called celiacs.

This object is achieved by the method here described and/or claimed.

Surprisingly, the Applicant has found that by mixing a first predetermined amount of the at least one flour which includes gluten with a second predetermined amount of an aqueous solution of at least one hydroxide of an alkali or alkaline-earth metal is possible to obtain a bakery food product with a low gluten content, therefore suitable for consumption by people intolerant to gluten, called celiacs.

The method may therefore comprise the steps of:

a) preparation of a dough including:

- a first predetermined amount of at least one flour of at least one cereal, said at least one flour including gluten;

- a second predetermined amount of an aqueous solution of at least one hydroxide of an alkali or alkaline-earth metal, and

- a third predetermined amount of yeast;

b) fermenting said dough;

c) baking said fermented dough to obtain a finished baked product with low gluten content.

It is understood that the aqueous solution can include a mixture of two or more alkali or alkaline-earth metal hydroxides.

Preferably, the at least one hydroxide may be an alkali metal hydroxide selected from the group comprising: Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium, Francium, Ununennium. Preferably, potassium and/or sodium hydroxide may be used.

Suitably, the at least one flour may be selected from the group comprising: wheat flour, barley flour, rye flour, triticale flour, kamut flour, spelled flour or a mixture of two or more thereof. On the other hand, the wheat flour may be chosen from the group comprising: soft wheat flour, hard wheat flour, spelt flour, or a mixture of two or more thereof.

By the method according to the present invention, it is possible to prepare a variety of bakery food products, including: bread, pizza, sandwich bread, cake, breadsticks, crackers, toasts.

The concentration of the at least one hydroxide in the aqueous solution may be between 0,5 ml/1 and 50 ml/1, depending on the flour or flour mixtures and the type of yeast. Preferably, this concentration can be between 5 ml/1 and 40 ml/1 and even more preferably between 10 ml/1 and 35 ml/1.

The ratio between the first amount of the at least one flour and the second amount of aqueous solution may be between 10:1 and 0,1:1. Preferably, this ratio may be between 5:1 and 1:0,2, and still more preferably between 3:1 and 1:0,5.

The ratio between the first amount of the at least one flour and the third amount of yeast may be between 700:1 and 0,1:1. Preferably, this ratio may be between 500:1 and 0,5:1, and even more preferably between 10:1 and 1:1.

It is understood that the three parameters mentioned above, that is the at least one hydroxide concentration in the aqueous solution, the ratio between the first amount of the at least one flour and the second amount of aqueous solution and the relationship between the first amount of the at least one flour and the third amount of yeast, may be combined with each other in any interval among the ones indicated above without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Of course, the initial mixture can be added with any ingredient, such as oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, flavorings, food supplements, or similar ingredients.

The ingredients of the dough can be kneaded together into a single phase mixture. On the other hand, the yeast may be added to the mixture only after the complete absorption of the aqueous solution by said at least one flour.

Advantageously, the aqueous solution may be prepared by first diluting the desired amount of potassium hydroxide in an equivalent amount of water to obtain a solution 1:1, and then adding water to the solution thus prepared until reaching the desired amount of aqueous solution. In this case, in fact, the first solution will be the information carrier for the second one.

In a preferred but not exclusively embodiment, the method according to the invention may be particularly suitable for the preparation of bread.

In this case, the flour may consists of or may include hard wheat flour, while the hydroxide may be potassium and/or sodium hydroxide.

In a first preferred embodiment of the method for preparing bread, the ratio between the first amount of flour and the second amount of aqueous solution may be close to 2:1 and the ratio between the first amount of flour and the third amount of yeast may be close to 1:0,02.

Suitably, the concentration of the at least one hydroxide in the aqueous solution may be less than or equal to 20 ml/1, and the yeast is to be added only after complete absorption of the aqueous solution by the flour. In fact, in such conditions beyond this concentration the fermentation phase does not occur.

In another preferred embodiment of the method for making bread, the ratio between the first amount of flour and the third amount of yeast may be close to 1:1, while the ratio between the first amount of flour and the second amount of aqueous solution may be close to 1:0,6.

In this case, the concentration of the at least one hydroxide in the aqueous solution may be close to 30 ml/l, and the ingredients can be kneaded together into a single phase mixture.

Experimentally, it has been observed that the second preferred embodiment of the method for preparing bread has provided the best results in terms of low gluten content of the bread.

Variations of the above mentioned ratios and/or concentrations are also possible depending on the environmental conditions and/or the flour and/or the ingredients used.

The bread dough may also contain an amount of fat, such as olive oil or lard, and possibly salt or its aromatic variants, sugar, barley malt, food supplements or flavorings.

The dough may be fermented for a predetermined time, ranging from 2 hours to 24 hours depending on the dough and the ingredients used.

The fermented dough can be baked in an oven in a known manner, for example at 200-250 °C for 30-60 minutes.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are defined according to the dependent claims.

The invention will be better understood by means of the following examples, which are provided for illustrative purposes and are not limitative of the invention. Example 1

A test has been performed to ascertain the effectiveness of potassium hydroxide (KOH) on gluten (gluten 100%). The products were each mixed with water. After resting the dough for 30 minutes, the protein content and the content of gluten have been measured in accordance with the method DM 23/07/2004 GC No. 186 08/10/1994.

The results are summarized in the following Table 1. Table 1

Physically, the mixture looks mealy, easy to flake by hand pressure. This aspect is very different from the starting gluten, which in contact with water gives rise to a dough elastic and cohesive.

Example 2

2 samples of bread were prepared.

The first sample (labelled in Table 2 below as "Sample 1") was prepared starting from the following ingredients:

1000 g of wheat hard flour type "0";

500 g water

20 g yeast (of which 2 g of yeast used as starter);

10 g olive oil

The second sample (indicated in Table 2 below as "Sample 2") was prepared starting from the following ingredients:

1000 g of wheat hard flour type "0";

500 g aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide at a concentration of 10 ml / I;

20 g yeast (of which 2 g of yeast used as starter);

10 g olive oil

At first the flour and liquids (oil and water or aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide) are mixed together. This first semi-finished product was then mixed with the yeast and rest to ferment for 18 hours, after which this second semifinished product was baked in an oven at 220 ° C.

In the case of sample 2, the aqueous solution was first prepared by diluting 5 mg of potassium hydroxide in 5 mg of water, and then by conveniently adding water to the 1:1 solution thus prepared up to reach 500 g of aqueous solution.

The finished bread was measured the protein content in accordance with the method DM 23/07/2004 GC No. 186 08/10/1994 and the one in gluten in accordance with the method AM 53 2010 Rev 5. The results are summarized in Table 2 below:

Table 2

Concerning the taste, the bread corresponding to sample 2 is more savory than the one corresponding to sample 1. Moreover, from the physical point of view the bread corresponding to the sample 2 has a crumb having a larger number of cells compared to the bread corresponding to sample 1, but of smaller dimensions. The crust of the bread corresponding to sample 2 is golden, while the one of the bread corresponding to the sample 1 is dark.

The attached Figure 1 shows the two samples of bread in comparison. In this figure with "A" is indicated the bread corresponding to sample 1, while "B" indicates the bread corresponding to sample 2.

Example 3

Another sample of bread has been prepared starting from the following ingredients:

1000 g of wheat hard flour type "0";

600 g aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide at a concentration of 30 ml/1;

1000 g yeast (including 10 g yeast as starter);

10 g olive oil;

20 g salt;

10 g barley malt.

The sample was prepared by first mixing all ingredients, then resting to ferment for about 3 hours and then baking the dough so fermented in the oven at 230 ° C for 40 minutes.

On the finished bread the protein and the gluten content was measured in accordance with the methods described in Example 2 above.

The content of gluten measured was of 24,22 mg/Kg, while the protein content was 8,36%.

Therefore, such a sample of bread has a gluten content even lower than the previous ones.

From the above description, it is apparent that the invention fulfills the intended scope.