There’s nothing quite like the smell of freshly baked bread but in his research Functional Grains Centre PhD candidate Drew Portman is also considering the volume of the loaf, crumb structure and nutritional properties.

Mr Portman’s research being carried out with Agriculture Victoria is investigating how lentil flour can be incorporated into wheat-based foods, such as bread, pasta or snacks.

“Lentils are widely consumed within Indian subcontinent and that’s where the bulk of the product grown in Australia is exported,” Mr Portman said.

“Although lentils are gaining popularity as a food source in western diets, wheat is the staple grain used for manufacturing food products.

“That means many of us are missing out on the nutritional benefits of lentils as they’re a great source of protein and the essential amino acids.”

The research at the Agriculture Victoria Grains Innovation Park, in Horsham involves testing the rheological and baking properties such as loaf volume and crumb structure but also examining the nutritional and chemical properties for potential health benefits of the final product.

“My research so far has shown that blending lentil and wheat flour improved the nutritional quality of bread.

“Optimising the blending ratio limited the deleterious effect on rheological properties resulting in acceptable loaf volume and crumb structure.

“Using a lentil and wheat flour mix in bread has the potential to make a product that most of us eat every day more nutritious.

“We hope this will also provide a higher-value market for lentils that are split or damaged during processing and currently sold as stock feed.”

Mr Portman’s research is supervised by FGC Director Professor Chris Blanchard,  Dr Joe Panozzo from Agriculture Victoria, and Professor John Mawson from Plant and Food Research New Zealand and Dr Mani Naiker from The Australian Catholic University

Fast lentil facts

The Australian lentil industry produces on average between 400 and 600 tonnes of lentils per year, most of which is exported.

Lentil production in Australia has expanded from less than 1500 hectares in 1994 to over 270,000 hectares.

Global lentil production averages 5.5 million tonnes annually, with Canada, India, Turkey and the United States the major producing countries.

The Indian subcontinent is the largest importer of Australian red lentil

* Information from Pulse Australia and AgriFutures Australia