Functional characterization of whole wheat flours for chapatti quality and acceptability

Chapattis or flat breads act as integral component in the diet of people in India and its subcontinents and, therefore, function as the main source of nutrition and energy. The major ingredient used for chapatti preparation is whole wheat flour and as a result chapatti quality is primarily dependant on the quality of wheat utilized. In this study, Whole wheat flours obtained from twenty diverse wheat cultivars were characterized for quality traits and chapatti acceptability. The chapatti prepared from different cultivars showed high diversity in overall acceptability score i.e. from 38.5 to 81.0. The results showed that chapatti color was significantly and negatively impacted by ash content (r = - 0.605), protein content (r = - 0.669), SDS (r = - 0.521), Damaged starch (r = - 0.522) and Cu content (r = - 0.612) of whole wheat flour, while chapatti pliability was found to be positively and significantly linked to the dough water absorption (r = 0.775). The chapattis made from dough having higher water absorptions were found to be pliable since during baking it puffs more (r = 0.452) due to proper steam generation and retention of moisture.