Effects of Semolina on Quality Characteristics of the Rice Noddles

Durum wheat semolina was added into wet-milled rice flour in order to improve chewy texture, firm bite ("al dente"), and resistance to overcooking of the ordinary rice noodles. Wet noodles were prepared by mixing 0 (control), 5, 10, 15, and 20% (w/w) of semolina per semolina and rice flour mixtures. Vital gluten (4%, w/w) and salt (2%, w/w) were added to form the pliable strands of wet noodles and final moisture contents of the raw mixtures were equalized at 45%. Pasting properties of the suspended flour mixtures as measured by the Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) showed slight increases (up to 1.2℃) in pasting temperatures along with the considerable decreases in peak viscosities as semolina increased at over 15%. Reduced shear thinning and retrogradation of the starch solution that leads to hardening of the cooked noodles were indicated by lowered breakdown viscosities and gaps between finaland setback viscosities from the RVA viscogram as semolina increased at over 10%. Reduced water uptake and turbidity increases of the cooking water as caused by the soluble starches from the noodle were also noted as the content of semolina increased. More or less significant (p less than 0.05) decreases in colorimetric L (lightness) value of the raw- and cooked noodles were observed as semolina increased while a- (redness) and b (yellowness) values were rather increased at the same moment. Textural properties of the cooked noodles such as hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness from TPA tests were significantly (p less than 0.05) influenced by added semolina, even at 5%-levels or more. It can be concluded that addition of semolina into rice flour could provide easy handling of the wet noodles without distortion during transportation, integrity and firm bite of the cooked noodles, and less loss of starch to the cooking water in comparison with the ordinary rice noodle. It was finally suggested that optimum level of the semolina in the product was approximately 10% for the quality wet rice noodle products.