Nutrient and specification enhancement of fortified Asian noodles by chickpea flour substitution and transglutaminase treatment
Lihong Han, Zhan‐Hui Lu, Jiajia Zhang, Bipasha Chakravarty, Lanyi Jin, Xiaohong Cao
Abstract
Effects of supplementation of chickpea flour (CF) (10% and 20%) to wheat flour (WF) followed by Transglutaminase (TGase) treatment (0–1.2%) were investigated to synergistically boost nutritional and texture properties of Asian noodles. The results showed that CF supplementation diluted both gluten-forming proteins and starch content of the blend, resulting in the weak dough, high cooking loss, and poor sensory quality. However, TGase treatment at 0.4–0.8% dosage could effectively recover the dough structure by crosslinking, including CF proteins as evidenced by Mixolab, SDS-PAGE, and dynamic viscoelasticity. The latter also distinguished the distinct dough structure treated by TGase from the wheat gluten-network. SEM revealed the improved network matrix and well-embedded starch granules in raw and cooked noodles. The cooked noodles substituted with 10% CF with 0.4% TGase treatment had the lowest cooking loss and comparable sensory qualities to WF control (p < .05).