Influence of fibre from different cereals on the rheological characteristics of wheat flour dough and on biscuit quality

Demand for health oriented products such as sugar-free, low calorie and high fibre products is increasing. One such recent trend is to increase the fibre content in food products to overcome health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, and colon cancer, among others, Consumption of high fibre products consisting of indigestible cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and gums have several health benefits. Apart from these benefits, beta-glucan-rich fibres have the benefit of reducing the absorption of glucose. Fibre sources from wheat, rice, oat and barley were used to study their influence on rheological characteristics of wheat flour dough and biscuit making quality. Ash, total protein and dietary fibre content of bran samples ranged between 4% and 10%, 12% and 14% and 20.4% and 49.5%, respectively. Farino-graph characteristics of the wheat flour-bran blends showed increase in water absorption from 60.3% to 76.3% with increase in the level of bran from 0% to 40%. The resistance to extension values as well as extensibility of the dough decreased with increase in the bran level. The spread ratio of the biscuits prepared from wheat, rice and oat bran blends decreased from 8.38 to 7.52, whereas the same increased to 9.3 for biscuits prepared from barley bran blends. The breaking strength values of biscuits ranged between 1.34 and 3.83 kg. Highly acceptable biscuits could be obtained by incorporating 30% of oat bran or 20% of barley bran in the formulation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.