Almond by-products: Extraction and characterization of phenolic compounds and evaluation of their potential use in composite dough with wheat flour.

Blanched skins and blanching water, by-products of almond processing, were evaluated as potential ingredients of bakery products. The research included three phases: i) optimization of skin drying; ii) optimization of quali-quantitative determination of phenolic compounds, by comparing three extracting protocols; iii) assessment of the impact of by-products on the rheology of composite meals with wheat flour. The least time-consuming drying mode (at 60 °C for 30 min) retained better odor notes, higher content of phenolics (813.89 μg/g by HPLC, with the most effective extracting method) and greater antioxidant activity than sun-drying. Blanching water showed 917.46 μg/mL phenolics. Dried almond skins altered the alveograph and farinograph indices of dough at doses higher than 3 and 5 g 100/g, respectively, whereas blanching water did not cause significant changes. Therefore, almond skins could be used in products tolerating weak gluten network, such as cookies, whereas blanching water could be added to any bakery good