Lactic Acid Fermentation Improved Textural Behaviour,Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) Dough

Abstract

In this work, autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from chia (Salvia hispanica L.) dough and selected on the basis of the kinetics of acidification and proteolytic activity. Strain No. C8 was selected, identified as Lactobacillus plantarum C8, and used as starter to obtain a chia sourdough. Lactic fermentation increased the organic acid concentrations (12.30, 1.02 g/kg and 23.8 g/kg dough of lactic, acetic and phenyl lactic acid, respectively), and antioxidant activities, which increased by approx. 33?40 % compared to unfermented chia flour dough. In addition, total phenolic compound content increases 25 % and its composition was strongly modified after 24 h fermentation by L. plantarum C8. Chlorogenic acid was only found in the fermented dough (2.52 mg/g), while ferulic acid was detected from the beginning of fermentation, being 32 % higher in chia sourdough (5.55 mg/g). The use of formulated chia sourdough improved the overall characteristics of white bread, including physical (e.g. reduced hardness and chewiness of the crumb) and antioxidant properties (25 % on average), compared with unfermented chia flour addition. These results indicate that the use of chia sourdough could be a promising alternative to improve the technological and antioxidant status of wheat breads. In addition, this work shows, for the first time, that lactic acid bacterium is able to ferment chia dough improving its overall characteristics.