Effects of the addition of white maize flour and xanthan gum on physical and sensory properties of gluten-free rice cake

Celiac is a digestion autoimmune disease. When people with celiac disease eat gluten, their body raises an immune response that attacks the small intestine. Currently, the only treatment for celiac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet. Therefore, development and quality improvement of gluten-free cereal products is of great importance. Quality protein maize (QPM) is a kind of modified maize in which the amount of tryptophan and lysine amino acids is about two times greater than those of ordinary maize. In the present research work, rice flour was replaced by QPM flour at levels of 25, 50, 75, and 100 % and xanthan gum was used at two different levels of 0.2 and 0.4% for production of gluten-free cake. Gluten-free batters and cakes were analysed in terms of their physical and sensory properties. Results showed that by increasing amounts of xanthan gum and white QPM flour, batter viscosity, moisture content and firmness of cakes were increased. It was found that a combination of suitable amount of xanthan gum and low levels of QPM flour could improve the volume and porosity of cake samples due to appropriate vicosity. Brightness and yellowness of cake samples decreased by increasing amount of QPM flour and increased by increasing the amount of xanthan. Cake samples containing 100% of QPM flour in combination with xanthan gum, had the lowest sensory score, while the highest score belonged to cake sample containing 25% of QPM flour and 0.2% xanthan gum.