Seaweeds in bakery and farinaceous foods: A mini-review

Seaweed is characterized by its nutritional composition. They contain protein and dietary fiber in high concentration, along with low fat and calorie intake. They also include bioactive compounds that are beneficial to health. For these reasons, it is incorporation in processed foods is interesting. In bakery and farinaceous foods, seaweed is incorporated as finely ground powder. The foods in which they have been incorporated are bread, noodles, cake, cookies, biscuits, and others. Thus, in general, foods with seaweeds incorporated, increase their content of protein, dietary fiber, total polyphenols, and antioxidant capacity.

Stable mixtures and emulsions are formed between the dough and the seaweed, furthermore, the functional properties improve in the products. Adding seaweeds into a bakery and farinaceous products decreases lightness, redness, and yellowness color parameters.

The sensorial quality is affected by the high concentration of seaweed, mainly flavor. It is being taken very carefully because sensory aspects are the most important for determining acceptability for consumers.

According to studies, the incorporation of seaweed in products should be a maximum of 10% for noodles, 4% for bread, 5% for biscuits, 5% for cookies, less than 10% for cake, and 3.55% in extruded maize.