Rheological and Qualitative Assessment of Wheat-Pea Composite Flour and its Utilization in Biscuits

Abstract

W is a staple food as it constitutes 60% of daily diet of a common man in Pakistan. The population of Pakistan is increasing so there is a need to share the burden of wheat by developing composite flour. Composite flour is defined as a mixture of flour from starch based-tubers, protein enriched legumes and from other cereals flour in combination with or without wheat flour. Research have been carried out on the utilization of various food items like cassava, yam, sweet potato, maize, rice, sorghum, millet, soya, chick pea, cow pea and peanuts as a substitute of wheat flour (Begum et al., 2013; Ohimain, 2014). Composite flour utilization in development of various food products is an attractive approach to meet the global challenge of protein-calorie malnutrition. To overcome the problem of protein calorie malnutrition and to increase intake of dietary protein in to the diet, the combination of cereal-based products with legumes is of considerable importance. Pulses or legumes are an important source of dietary vegetable protein containing twice the protein content compared to cereal grains. Cereals are deficient in lysine but contain sufficient amount of sulphur containing amino acids. In contrast, legumes contain sufficient lysine but lacking sulphur containing amino acids. Therefore, to overcome the problem of protein Abstract | The present study aimed to develop composite flour by substituting wheat flour with pea flour at different levels and to check its suitability in biscuits through its rheological and qualitative study. Results indicated rheological parameters including water absorption, dough development time, dough stability, gluten content and falling no. values differed significantly (p < 0.01) among all the treatments of composite flour. Wet and dry gluten content decreased from 22.16 ± 1.58 % (T0) to 16.43 ± 1.32 % (T3) and 7.46 ± 0.47 % (T0) to 5.03 ± 0.38 % (T3) respectively. With increasing percent of pea flour in biscuits, moisture, carbohydrates and caloric value decreased from (1.84% 1.33%), (62.87% 54.57%), (525.64 Kcal /100 g to 502.84 Kcal /100 g) respectively while ash, fat, fiber, protein, iron, zinc, magnesium and manganese contents increased significantly (p < 0.01). There was a non-significant (p > 0.05) effect on the color, flavor, taste and texture of biscuits. So, it is concluded that replacement of wheat flour with pea flour up to a level of 20% improved the nutritional potential of biscuits without affecting the consumer acceptability score. Aqsa Qayyum1*, Masooma Munir1, Saeeda Raza1, Mussarat Gillani1, Saima Kanwal1, Nouman Rashid1, Amer Mumtaz1, Naeem Safdar1, Zarmina Gillani2