Assessment of the Influence of the Nanostructure of Native and Pre-Gelatinized Starches for the Production of Premium Baked Goods

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for Ardent Mills is a world leader in the manufacturing of starchy mixes for the baking sector. Ardent Mills Canada, part of the Ardent Mills group, has head offices located in Ontario and their key products are premium specialty starch mixes containing native and pregelatinized starch. The consumption of baked goods, including breads and cakes, is unaffected by socioeconomic status. However, there is growing consumer demand for premium products with excellent quality parameters, such as shape and texture. Specifically, the quality of baked goods' texture is mainly related to the structural properties imparted by the starch component. However, these products are often difficult to manufacture due to the complexity of the starch physical properties. A great number of baked goods are rejected for not meeting the meeting quality standards in terms of volume and texture, which is resulting in unacceptable returns of the starch ingredients back to Ardent Mills and has brought about more than $5 M loses in the past 5 years. This NSERC CRD will focus on understanding the starch granular and molecular features of native and pregelatinized starches from different wheat types in order to improve the textural functionality of Ardent Mills Canada's commercial mixes. Furthermore, we will develop a high shear extrusion process to fabricate cold swelling starches and allow Ardent Mills Canada to have them as a benchmark for their pregelatinized starch suppliers. Cold swelling starches offer multiple advantages, including reduced oil absorption during deep frying. This CRD project will not only enable Ardent Mills Canada to optimize its unique specialty mixes containing native and pre-gelatinized starches, but also address the current challenge of improving the functionality of clean label starches (over the chemically modified ones) from wheat. This CRD project will also improve process efficiency for bakers and baking industries and reduce food waste from baked goods by reducing starch-related quality defects that arise during processing. Finally, this project will increase the competitiveness of Canada's agri-food sector by providing an enriched, multidisciplinary and cross-sector carbohydrate chemistry and food biophysics training environment for highly qualified personnel.