Effect of Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose on Rheological Properties, Coating Pickup, and Oil Content of Rice Flour-Based Batters

Rice flour-based batter is an alternative for wheat flour-based batter for consumers with wheat allergy or wheat intolerance. Further advantage of rice flour in batter is its ability to reduce oil uptake. However, due to its low-protein content, high amylose, and small granule size, rice flour-based batter possesses poor adhesion property. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the addition of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC); a hydrocolloid, on rheological properties, coating pickup, and oil absorption of HPMC-rice-based fried batter. Rheological properties of rice flour-based batters containing HPMC with different degrees of substitution (DS) and concentrations were determined. In steady-shear measurements, the addition of HPMC; E4M (DS = 1.9) and K4M (DS = 1.4), led to the increase of apparent viscosity, yield stress, and consistency index. K4M rice flour batters showed shear-thickening behavior (n > 1) with syneresis. HPMC increased the complex modulus (G*) of batters, where storage moduli (G') were higher than loss moduli (GaEuro(3)). The crossover points increased with increasing HPMC concentration. HPMC addition increased the coating pickup of fresh carrot sticks and less coating loss was observed with K4M. Rice batter formulated with 0.5% E4M provided deep-fried crust with 26% lower oil content compared to the control crust.