*3.4. Cooking Quality*

Studies conducted by other authors [25–31] have indicated that the addition of β-glucans reduced the cooking quality of pasta. Our study focused on the impact of adding β-glucans, xanthan gum, and vital gluten simultaneously. The results demonstrated that the amount of β-glucans addition also significantly (*p* ≤ 0.05) affected the cooking quality of pasta samples (Table 5). An increase in the optimal cooking time (OCT) was observed for products enriched with 15% and 20% of β-glucans. The effect of adding soluble fiber (β-glucans/inulin) to extend cooking time has been confirmed by other authors [28,31]. The observed OCT changes may be caused by high water absorption of high-fiber components in products, which compete for water with starch, thereby hindering its swelling and pasting [34,58]. Different results were obtained by Chillo et al. [29], who studied the impact of two commercially available barley β-glucan preparations on the cooking quality of durum wheat spaghetti. They did not notice differences in OCT relative to the control (0% β-glucans) and samples with the variable share of the addition of Glucagel®. In contrast, the OCT of the examined samples with the addition of a Bilans ™ preparation increased with the increase in the share of the preparation. In the 10% β-glucans Bilans ™ assay, the OCT was 1.5 min longer than the control. In the present research, the extension of OCT for samples with the addition of β-glucans may have been the cause of the greater losses of dry matter, compared to the control and BG0, as a result of the passage of part of soluble fiber into the solution during cooking [59].


**Table 5.** Cooking quality of pasta samples.

Explanation: d.m—dry matter; CON—control sample; BG—β-glucans; Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Data value of each parameter with different superscript letter in the columns are significantly different (Tukey test, *p* ≤ 0.05).

It is worth emphasizing that the almost twice lower dry matter loss in the BG0 sample (compared to BG20) may be related to the highest protein content in this sample (Table 2). Protein has a major impact on maintaining a stable product structure and reducing dry matter loss. The protein-starch matrix is associated with maintenance of better integrity during cooking and improvement of the quality parameters of pasta [51]. Increasing dry matter loss accompanying an increase in the proportion of soluble fiber (guar gum/β-glucans) has been observed [26,27]. The weight values for the BG15 and BG20 samples increased significantly (*p* ≤ 0.05) compared to samples with the 0–10% share of β-glucans and the control sample. No statistical differences were observed between the BG0, BG5, and BG10 samples. The increase of the weight of the BG15 and BG20 samples is adequate to the WAI values obtained for these samples (Table 3). Undoubtedly, the ability to absorb water during cooking was related to the extension of the optimal cooking time and the high water capacity of soluble fiber. The reduction of the amount of water available to starch may contribute to its lower pasting capacity and digestibility [26]. In the case of the value increase index, a significant (*p* ≤ 0.05) increase was noted in the BG0 pasta (90% semolina, 5% xanthan gum, and 5% gluten) compared to the control sample. Due to its high value of WAI, xanthan gum contributed to a significant (*p* ≤ 0.05) increase in the volume of the product during cooking. The increase in the β-glucan content (from 0 to 20%) caused a decrease in this parameter.
