PROBING MOLECULAR AND STRUCTURAL THERMAL EVENTS IN CEREAL-BASED PRODUCTS

Thermal and molecular analyses of cereal food systems have been considered as a new approach to clarify these complex systems. The roles of glass transition, crystal melting, phase separation, and molecular mobility and interaction, are of great interest. The starch melting and glass-rubber transition, for instance, are complex, biphasic phenomena. NMR, X-ray diffraction, and many other methods have brought out new evidence and arguments for different models. Glass-rubber transitions of gluten and its components have been reported by various techniques. Thermal events in bread at various moisture levels observed by DSC, DMA and TMA are compared in terms of theological properties, volume expansion, and melting behavior. The staling of bread is described as a function of storage time and moisture loss.