Effect of fortifying wheat flour with quinoa flour on the physicochemical and rheological properties of flour and the quality of the resulting noodles

Abstract

This research was conducted at the laboratories of (Food Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, and the Central Grain Laboratory, Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection), with the aim of studying the physiochemical and rheological properties of high quality wheat flour fortified with different proportions (0, 5, 10 and 15%) of quinoa seed flour, and evaluation of sensory and cooking properties of processed noodles.

The analysis of variance test showed the highly significant effect of adding quinoa seed flour on the properties of wheat flour, where water content, wet gluten content, dry gluten content and gluten index decreased, while ash content, total protein content and color degree increased, thus these results reflecting a significant difference in the physicochemical composition between wheat flour and quinoa seed flour. In addition, the process of replacing wheat flour with quinoa seed flour led to significant changes in the farinograph indicators of wheat flour, where flour water absorption, dough development time and dough weakening degree increased, while dough stability time and the valorimetric number decreased. Moreover, the results of the analysis of the extensograph indicators showed that the addition of quinoa seed flour compared to wheat flour resulted in a decrease in the maximum resistance to extension and elasticity of the dough and an increase in its extensibility. In general, the results of flour properties analysis showed that adding quinoa seed flour to wheat flour would increase the nutritional value of wheat flour but reduce flour strength. On the other hand, the results of the analysis of the noodles characteristics after cooking showed an increase in the indicators of the optimal cooking time, cooked weight and cooking loss, while the sensory characteristics decreased in terms of firmness, adhesiveness, chewiness and the overall acceptability, mainly due to the decrease in the proportion of gluten in the used flour.