Wafa Allouch Tounsi^{1, 2,}, Dorra Sfayhi Terras¹, Nessrine Haj Yahia¹, Youkebed Zarroug¹, Leila Doggui³, Mariem Bouhadida¹, Ali Ouji¹, Khalil Kamessi¹, Mohamed Kharrat¹, Hajer Debbabi²

Most of gluten-free (GF) bakery products available on the market are made with a restricted number of grains. Flours and starches from rice and maize are mainly used; for this reason, people affected by celiac disease frequently suffer from nutritional deficiencies. The use of a wider range of GF flours, rich in nutrients and phytochemicals, may improve the nutritional quality of GF products. In this work, an investigation of the physicochemical, mineral, and functional profiles in 16 GF flours belonging to different local varieties of legumes (chickpea, fava bean, and lentil), cereals (rice and maize) and pseudo-cereals (white quinoa, red quinoa and chia) was achieved. Significant differences could be observed across samples, legume flours presented very interesting nutritional characteristics: proteins (22 % - 28.71%), mineral composition especially in iron (52.05ppm to 152.45ppm), Zinc (36.96% - 51.28%) and Potassium (0.83% -1.13%); moreover, pulses were characterized by their high antioxidant activity (88.63%). Besides the important functional properties, such as the emulsifying activity and stability as well as the foaming capacity and foam stability, were noticed especially for lentil and fava bean flours. Finally, such interesting properties contribute to the selection of flours for healthier GF bakery products.

flours, gluten-free, functional properties, physicochemical characterization