Studies on functional properties and incorporation of buckwheat flour for biscuit making

The consumer demand is increasing for composite flour based bakery products like biscuits.The incorporation of buckwheat can be justified in composite flour based biscuits as it has beneficial nutraceutical properties and its gluten-free nature can play important role in preventing celiac problem. The physicochemical and functional properties of buckwheat flour were studied and biscuits were prepared with the incorporation of buckwheat flour in 10, 20, 30 and 40 % concentration with refined wheat flour to assess the quality and acceptability of the biscuits. The water absorption capacity of buckwheat flour was lower than that of refined wheat flour (p≤0.05), whereas oil absorption and foaming capacity of buckwheat flour were significantly higher than that of refined wheat flour (p ≤0.05). The buckwheat flour had higher least gelation concentration (32%) as compared with wheat flour (20%). As the concentration of buckwheat flour was increased, spread ratio of biscuits decreased. The fracture strength of biscuits decreased with the incorporation of buckwheat flour. The acceptability of biscuit color was best for control sample and it decreased with the addition of buckwheat flour. The biscuits formed with addition of 20 and 30% buckwheat flour had overall acceptability score of 6.71 and 6.20 respectively, suggesting acceptability to the consumers.