Case study of commercially available gluten-free bread products: Texture changes during storage and sensory analysis

Gluten-free (GF) breads are often described with low quality, rapidly staling, dry mouthfeel and crumbling texture attributes. In lack of recent texture profile data on commercially available, preservative-free, freshly-baked GF bread, this study aimed to compare different types of GF products with their wheat-based counterparts during a 4-day-long storage test. Texture analysis data showed that GF loaves performed better than or comparable to the wheat-based ones in hardness, springiness and cohesiveness. Among sensorial properties mouth-feel, softness and aroma were evaluated as significantly better or similar for GF versus wheat-based products. GF cob had a saltier taste, which reduced the flavour experience. Both the texture results of the storage test and sensory data showed that the quality of GF bread products improved in recent years; they stayed comparable with their wheat-based counterparts even during a 4-day-long storage period.