https://doi.org/10.17113/ftb.64.02.26.9220

Article in press

Impact of Egg Components on Model Pasta Dough Rheology, Microstructure, and Mechanical Dough Rolling Energy

Berkay Berk¹, Şelale Öncü Glaue² and Sevcan Ünlütürk^1*

¹Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Izmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, Türkiye

²Food Processing Department, Efes Vocational School, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Türkiye

Copyright © 2024 This is a Diamond Open Access article published under CC-BY licence. Copyright remains with the authors, who grant third parties the unrestricted right to use, copy, distribute and reproduce the article as long as the original author(s) and source are acknowledged.

Article history:

Received: 6 June 2025

Accepted: 7 December 2025

Keywords:

egg; pasta dough; linear rheology; non-linear rheology; extensional rheology; rolling

Summary:

Research background. Pasta is a widely consumed food usually made from durum wheat semolina. During production of pasta, pasta dough kneading is the first step and there are varying levels of deformation that are applied to the dough. All these deformations are related to the rheological properties of the pasta dough. The rheological properties of pasta dough are affected from its ingredients.

Experimental approach. In this study, three different types of model pasta dough were prepared using water, whole eggs, or egg yolks. To evaluate their properties, linear, non-linear (LAOS) and extensional rheological tests were conducted. The energy requirement during dough rolling process was linked to the rheological properties of the dough samples.

Results and conclusions. Results showed that the energy requirement during rolling is strongly correlated with crossover strain, oscillatory viscoelastic moduli, creep-recovery compliances and extensional consistency coefficient. The addition of whole egg and egg yolk increased the rigidity of the model dough (Plain: 6.32 kPa, Whole: 28.48 kPa and Yolk: 117.05 kPa Young’s Modulus). The work done during rolling increased with addition of egg (Plain: 15.19 J, Whole: 27.14 J and Yolk: 33.02 J). After rolling, samples were cut, cooked, and the microstructure was evaluated. The effect of egg constituents on the microstructure was observed as a lipid-coated smoother surface and strong formation of a protein network.

Novelty and scientific contribution. This study provides a comprehensive rheological characterization of model pasta doughs formulated with different egg constituents using linear, nonlinear, and extensional tests. By linking these rheological properties to the mechanical energy required during rolling, the work introduces a novel approach to quantitatively predict processing behaviour from fundamental dough mechanics. The findings also highlight how egg yolk significantly enhances dough rigidity and alters microstructure, contributing to improved understanding of ingredient-function relationships in pasta formulation.