Development of eggless gluten-free rice muffins utilizing black carrot dietary fibre concentrate and xanthan gum.

Gluten-free muffins are generally made from purified flours and starches (from non-gluten sources) which are deficient in dietary fibre and have poor quality attributes. In this regard, the present work was undertaken to explore application of black carrot pomace dietary fibre concentrate (BCF) and xanthan gum (XG) in gluten-free rice muffins. Physicochemical properties of BCF and rice flour were studied. BCF was incorporated at three levels (3, 6 and 9 %) in rice flour, while XG was added at 0.5 % level to study their effect on muffin batters and physicochemical properties of muffins. BCF showed higher water absorption and oil absorption capacities than rice flour. Incorporation of BCF and XG increased flour paste viscosities and batter viscoelasticity. Incorporation of BCF increased total dietary fibre content (TDF) and decreased the L* and b* values, water activity (aw), specific volume and firmness. On the other hand, XG improved appearance and specific volume of the rice muffins prepared with and without BCF. Muffins prepared with 6 % BCF incorporation and XG were the most acceptable. This study demonstrated that BCF and XG can be used as viable functional ingredients in the preparation of gluten-free muffins.