Effect of flour particle size on microstructural, rheological and physico-sensory characteristics of bread and south Indian parotta

Wheat flour fractioned by sieving into four different
particle size fractions namely finer fractions (<75 and
75–118 μm), coarser fractions (118–150 and >150 μm)
were analyzed for their chemical, rheological, bread &
parotta making characteristics. The finer fractions had lower
ash, higher dry gluten, damaged starch and sodium dodecysulphate
(SDS)—sedimentation value than the coarser fractions.
The flour from finer fractions gave bread with best
sensory and textural attributes. The parottas from finer fractions
showed significantly higher sensory scores for colour,
texture, layers, mouthfeel and overall quality score than the
coarser fractions. In the micrograph of finer flour fractions,
higher number of loosened single starch granules than the
aggregates of starch and protein matrix were seen as compared
to coarser fractions. These studies indicate that the
flour from the finer fractions produce higher quality bread,
parotta owing to the presence of higher damaged starch
content, quantity and quality of protein in these fractions
than coarser fractions.