Bee pollen as a functional ingredient in gluten-free bread: A physical-chemical, technological and sensory approach

The aim of this study was to explore the use of multifloral bee pollen (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5%) as a natural and functional ingredient in gluten-free (GF) breadmaking and to evaluate its impact on the physical-chemical, technological and sensory properties of the obtained loaves. The properties of the dough during the mixing and leavening phases as well as the characteristics of breads just after baking and during storage were investigated. The addition of pollen appears not to have any influence on rheological characteristics of the enriched doughs when compared to the control. Increasing levels of pollen supplementation mirrored significant improvement of the resulting breads in the technological features such as volume, textural properties of crumb, crust and crumb color, crumb cell uniformity and crumb grain structure. The fortified breads were softer and showed a slower firming kinetic when compared to the control bread. Furthermore, the overall acceptability of GF breads fortified with bee pollen between 3% and 5% was higher than for the control. However, at the highest level of pollen supplementation, some detrimental effects (especially in terms of crumb texture and staling kinetic) were observed.