Abstract: The effect of spontaneous sourdough starter and California almond bran on the shearing texture property of sourdough noodle was studied based on a traditional noodle process in this joint international project. The results obtained showed that the fermentation time and amount of spontaneous sourdough starter, the amount of almond bran had a notable impact on maximum shear force of sourdough noodle. Response surface methodology was used to establish the relations between factors and dependent variables. The model for maximum shear force demonstrated good correlation with measured data with R2 values, being 0.9562, indicating that it is suitable and response surface methodology can be a useful tool to predict the effects of the fermentation time and amount of spontaneous sourdough starter, the amount of the almond bran on sourdough noodle shearing quality. Eventually, the optimal conditions for the making of sourdough noodle containing the almond bran were determined by ridge analysis as follows: the fermentation time of spontaneous sourdough is 33h, the amount of spontaneous sourdough is 5%, and the amount of almond bran is 3%.

Key words: sourdough noodle, California almond bran, spontaneous sourdough starter, response surface methodology