Effect of infrared finishing process parameters on physical, mechanical, and sensory properties of par-fried, infrared-finished gluten-free donuts

摘要

Infrared radiation (IR) can simulate the heat flux created during the frying process, yielding products with fried-like textures but lower fat content. The objective of this study was to determine the process parameters needed to produce partially-fried, infrared-finished gluten-free (GF) donuts having similar instrumental and sensorial properties to fully-fried wheat and GF donuts but lower fat content. Eight different IR oven parameter settings were tested. All GF donuts had significantly lower (p ≦ 0.05) fat content (23.7-28.2%) than the wheat control (33.7%). Several IR oven parameters yielded donuts that were instrumentally similar to the wheat and GF controls. All IR-finished GF donuts received significantly lower overall acceptance scores (3.81-3.44) than the wheat control (6.94), although they had similar sensory scores to the GF control (4.54). Infrared radiation may be used to finish-fry partially-fried GF donuts to produce donuts significantly lower in fat, yet instrumentally and sensorially similar to fully-fried GF donuts.