Abstract:Wheat bran had negative effects on the quality of whole wheat dough and semi-dried noodles. In order to improve the quality of whole wheat dough and semi-dried whole wheat noodles (SWWN), fermentation of bran was applied in this study. The effects of different bran pre-fermentation methods (including unfermented, nature fermented, liquor koji fermented, yeast fermented, and liquor koji and yeast fermented methods) on the moisture distribution and dynamic rheological properties of whole wheat dough, and the eating quality of SWWN were studied in this paper. In the analysis of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), the T21 value increased and the T22 value decreased in the whole wheat dough made with pre-fermented bran. It was possible that the water in the whole wheat dough migrated from the bran to the protein and starch. In the dynamic rheology experiment, the elastic modulus G′ and viscosity modulus G″ of the whole wheat dough decreased in the liquor koji and yeast fermentation groups. In the liquor koji and yeast fermentation group, the water absorption of SWWN increased during cooking, and the hardness and gumminess decreased. The external appearance and microstructure observation showed that the internal structure of SWWN became loose in liquor koji and yeast group. The irregular pores were observed in the cross-section of SWWN, which improved the eating quality of SWWN. At the same time, after fermentation by liquor koji and yeast, the content of phytic acid reduced, and the content of polyphenols increased, which improved the nutritional value of SWWN.