The results for cooking loss presented in Table 2 show a significant effect of buckwheat incorporation (P < 0.01) and flour protein (P < 0.10). Cooking loss for AS was slightly higher (1e2%) compared with Baker’s, following the addition of 30% and 40% buckwheat. The cooking loss increased with additional buckwheat and there was a large increase for AS (47.0%) compared to Baker’s (25.0%). These observations correspond with the rehydration results for which a decreasing trend was shown. Rayas-Duarte et al. (1996) also reported a significant increase of cooking loss for samples containing 15e30% buckwheat. Both AS and Baker’s flours have the ability to establish a gluten matrix, which provides the structure of the noodle. However, the addition of buckwheat flour (non-gluten) had weakened the gluten strength and interrupted the overall structure of the noodles. This explains the increased leaching of solids
(cooking loss) from the noodles into the cooking water, with increased buckwheat flour.