## 8 Conclusions and Future Research Directions  
Pigmented rice offers significant potential for enhancing the technological, nutritional and sensory properties of bread, bakery products, and snacks. Substituting a portion of wheat flour with pigmented rice flour in bread formulations enhanced sensory attributes and nutritional quality, although it affected dough rheology and bread volume either positively or negatively depending on the rice ratio and process conditions. All products with added pigmented rice showed improved total phenolic content and antioxidant capacities. Wheat-based bread demonstrated improved volume and texture with the inclusion of extruded pigmented rice as well as germinated and fermented (sourdough) pigmented rice, while the addition of other starch-based ingredients yielded no noticeable benefits. Extrusion cooking improved technological properties of dough, bread, and bakery products, while the processes of germination and fermentation further enhanced the nutritional value of bakery products by increasing the levels of GABA. Additionally, pigmented rice flour can be used to improve GF bread volume, crumb firmness, and relative elasticity compared to white rice bread, especially with application of ohmic heating. Cupcakes, brownies, biscuits, and cookies benefited from pigmented rice's improved sensory qualities and consumer acceptance. Extruded snacks, breakfast cereals, and snacks from pigmented rice proved to have good sensory qualities and acceptance. Pigmented rice-based pasta and noodles showed compromised cooking qualities but germination of rice grain improved noodle cooking qualities. Short-duration parboiling of pigmented rice, especially when combined with germination, can enhance both its nutritional profile and viscosity properties. Additionally, integrating parboiling with extrusion cooking has been shown to improve the quality of pasta made from white rice, suggesting potential benefits if applied to pigmented rice as well. However, given the potential of pigmented rice as a functional food and ingredient, significant challenges remain, its lower yield and, consequently, limited production maintaining its niche status. While there are technological hurdles associated with incorporating pigmented rice into bread and bakery products, numerous studies have demonstrated promising strategies to address these challenges. Still, the use of pigmented rice in product development has to be fully scaled up (industrial scale) for widespread commercial application. Future efforts should focus on agronomic advancement of pigmented rice, optimizing pre-processing technologies (e.g., parboiling and milling) and processing techniques by further refinement of extrusion, ohmic heating, fermentation, and germination to maximize the technological properties of pigmented rice. It is also important to explore genetic and varietal differences among pigmented rice to gain valuable insights in identifying best cultivars for specific food and technology applications. Genetic and varietal differences in pigmented rice significantly influence its technological and nutritional properties, and understanding these differences is essential for identifying the optimal processing technologies and conditions. Other areas to be considered are consumer awareness and market potential of pigmented rice to increase utilization. In conclusion, pigmented rice presents a promising ingredient for improving the technological and nutritional properties of bread, bakery products, and snacks, with high potential applications in gluten-free and health-focused food products. G.C.E. : Writing--review and editing, Writing--original draft, Visualization, Validation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization; R.S. : Writing--reviewand editing, Writing--original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Resources, Methodology. Formal analysis, Conceptualization. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.