Effect of Gluten-free Composite Flour on Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Cracker Biscuits

Abstract

Coeliac disease is an antibody-mediated enteropathy that presents permanent intolerance to ingested gluten, for which only treatment is lifelong devotion to a gluten-free diet. The aim of this study was to produce and investigate cracker biscuits prepared from gluten-free composite flour. Gluten was separated from wheat flour to make gluten-free wheat flour (GFWF). Raw rice, Bengal gram, fresh potatoes and Italian millet were dried and ground into powder. The cracker biscuits were prepared by incorporating different levels of gluten-free composite flour. The cracker biscuits were investigated for their physico-chemical and sensory properties. The spread ratio of control biscuits containing only 100% wheat flour was higher but weight was lower than other cracker biscuits containing gluten-free composite flour. Chemical analysis showed that gluten-free cracker biscuits had higher moisture, ash, and fat content, while lower protein content than control biscuits. The sensory results showed that overall acceptability, taste, flavor and texture scores differed significantly (p<0.05). The cracker biscuits containing 45% gluten-free wheat flour, 25% rice flour, 15% Bengal gram flour, 10% potato flour and 5% Italian millet flour was the favorite sample of the sensory evaluation with the highest overall acceptability among all types of gluten-free cracker biscuits. © 2014 JSR Publications. SSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsr.v6i3.16531 J. Sci. Res. 6 (3), 521-530 (2014)