Rheological and Microstructural Study of Wheat Doughs Partially Replaced with Mesquite Flour (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Prosopis alba</Emphasis>) and Added with Transglutaminase

The incorporation of different flours into wheat bread may pursue different objectives, such as increasing the nutritional quality of the products or the recovery of flour with little use in the industry. The “mesquite flour” (MF) is rich in sugar, fiber, and protein and is an interesting additive to wheat flour in baking. In this study, we used crude and thermally processed bread dough formulations of wheat flour (WF), replacing 15, 25, and 35% with mesquite flour. Furthermore, each formulation was tested for two levels (0.01 and 0.1%) of the enzyme transglutaminase (TG). Dough rheology was studied by small amplitude oscillatory compression tests, and the microstructure was analyzed by laser confocal microscopy using fluorescein isothiocyanate and rhodamine B as fluorophores. It was concluded that the incorporation of mesquite into the dough resulted in changes in the structure, as evidenced by the increase in tan δ, microscopic observations (loss of the filamentary and cross-linked gluten structure), and by the increase in the gelatinization temperature. The addition of TG led to dissimilar effects on doughs, depending on the formulation (wheat/mesquite content), but most encouraging results indicate the recovery of the structure, evidenced by a reduction in tan δ and the generation of a more filamentary structure in the dough with a higher content of mesquite flour. However, the effect of TG addition on “processed dough” was attenuated and the viscoelastic matrix of gluten did not recover.