• New insect-based bread was developed by adding honeybee brood powder to flour. • Honeybee broods significantly enhanced water-holding capacity of dough. • 5% honeybee broods had no significant impact on fermentation performance of dough. • Addition of honeybee broods changed protein intermolecular interactions of dough. • Honeybee broods enhanced baking flavor formation and improved nutrition of bread. To alleviate protein crisis and provide foods with high nutritional value, the European Commission approved the supplementation of certain edible insects in bread products. Honey bee broods, including honey bee larvae and pupae, exhibit high nutritional value and favourable sensory acceptance for consumers. However, as by-products of beekeeping, honey bee broods remain highly underutilised. In this study, we developed a new insect-based bread by replacing different percentages of white flour with freeze-dried honey bee larval powder (HBL) or freeze-dried honey bee pupal powder (HBP). HBP and HBL significantly enhanced the water-holding capacity of dough, and 5% of HBL or HBP had no significant effect on the fermentation performance of dough. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that at HBL or HBP concentration greater than 10%, the gluten network was unable to sufficiently encapsulate the starch granules. Fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR analysis indicated that HBL and HBP could change intermolecular interactions in dough protein, as manifested by reduced number of disulphide bonds and increased hydrophobic forces. HBL or HBP incorporation enhanced the formation of baking flavour compounds and could increase the contents of essential amino acids and monounsaturated fatty acids in bread. Sensory evaluation results revealed that the formulation containing no more than 10% HBP or HBL was more accepted by participants. We explored the mechanisms by which HBL and HBP influenced dough properties and comprehensively assessed the qualities of the end-product bread. The study highlights the feasibility of preparing high-quality insect-based bread and provides the theoretical basis for its further development.
Cao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.