Brazil is among the ten largest producers of rice in the world. Due to processing, most of the grains is broken, causing a by-product of low commercial value. Rice flour is usually produced from broken grains and used in manufactured products because of their functional properties. Aiming to obtain flours with different functional properties and thus extend its use as an ingredient in different applications in the food industry, the objective was to evaluate the effect of moisture content and roasting time (independent variables), in the microwave, on the functional characteristics of flour from rice variety 'IRGA 417'. We used central composite rotational experimental design. The variation of amylose content (TA) between the roasted rice flour was 16-30g (100g)-1, and roasting in the shortest times (until 13.3min) and humidity above 18.5g (100g)-1, we observed the highest TA. An elevation of the water absorption index (WAI) increased as the roasting time of rice flours. The highest values of water solubility index (WSI) (25%) were found for rice flour with humidity above 22g (100g)-1. With increased roasting time diminished the peak viscosity, final viscosity and setback of roasted flour. On the contrary was observed for the breakdown of viscosity. It is concluded that roasting in a microwave can expand the applications of rice flour in the food industry according to the functional changes that result.
Oryza sativa L.; broken rice; humidification; roasting; microwave; product development; thermal treatment
