Abstract
Pasta and noodle products have existed for thousands of years and play an important role in human nutrition and culture.World consumption of pasta and noodle products has increased in recent years, due to the ease of transportation, cooking,mechanizations, and development of infrastructure. Ashi noodle is a type of noodle produced in Iran by mixing wheat flour,salt and water. It has been reported that incorporation of salt has a remarkable impact on product quality but, it has detrimentaleffect on human health and induces renal impairments. Also, there is an increased consumers’ demand for healthy foodwhile maintaining quality and sensory properties Therefore, reduction of salt in food products such as Ashi noodles can be achallenge of investigation. This study was carried out at two stages. At the first stage, the effect of salt (2 and 3%) and guar andxanthan (0.5 and 1%) addition to Ashi noodles on rheological (water absorption, dough consistency, gluten softening degree,starch gelatinization, amylase activity and starch retrogradation), physiochemical characteistics (moisture and ash content)and sensory properties was investigated. The results showed that by increasing hydrocolloids concentration and decreasing saltlevel, water absorption, strach gelatinization and starch retrogradation were significantly increased, whereas gluten softeningand amylase activity were decreased. Regarding the results obtained, samples with 1% xanthan and 2% salt were recognized asthe best in terms of rheological, physiochemical and sensory properties. At the second stage of the study, low-salt probiotic Ashinoodles were prepared by using Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans (109 cfu/g) and viability and sensory characteristics ofthe samples were studied. The results showed that the number of B. subtilis and B. coagulans reached from 7.13× 108 and 5.57×108 cfu/g (in preparation stage of dough) to 3.4× 107 and 3 × 107 cfu/g (after baking), respectively. Ashi noodles containing B.subtilis was the best treatment in terms of sensory properties at this stage.