Supplementation of germinated pulses in wheat flour and its impact on the quality characteristics of leavened pan bread

Legumes have unique nutritional properties and their incorporation in bakery products is encouraged to improve the nutritional worth of these products. Legume flours, due to their amino acid composition and fiber content, are ideal ingredients for improving the nutritional value of bread. Germination process further improves the protein quality, total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacity of the legumes. The nutritional profile of wheat flour can be improved by incorporating legume flours to improve the nutritional and sensory attributes with special reference to bread. For this purpose, four compositions of supplemented flours were prepared along with control by gradually replacing wheat flour with sufficient levels of legumes flour. The chickpea, lentil and pea supplemented flours were analyzed for proximate composition, mineral analysis, total acidity, farinographic study and water activity on monthly basis during 60 days storage. Results of analysis showed that there was increase in moisture (10.47 to 12.52%), crude protein (21.42 to 25.27%), crude fat (0.90 to 1.60%), crude fiber (0.71 to 0.96%), ash (1.18 to 1.59%), sodium (7.94 to 28.21mg/100), potassium (438.97 to 665.06mg/100g), calcium (64.23 to 81.25mg/100g), magnesium (145.59 to 147.37mg/100g), iron (3.25 to 3.59mg/100g) and zinc (2.87 to 4.05mg/100g), water absorption (55.11 to 59.37%), dough development time (8.48-10.27/ minutes), total acidity (0.07-0.12) and water activity (0.43 to 0.47) with progressively increasing supplementation level. However, there was increase in moisture (10.14 to 11.54%), dough development time (7.60 to 11.18 minutes), dough stability time (7.66 to 8.92 minutes), total acidity (0.05 to 0.09) and water activity (0.40 to 0.48) during 60 days storage whereas crude fiber, ash and nitrogen free extract (NFE) and minerals showed non-significant effects during storage. Leavened pan bread was prepared from all formulations and analyzed for hardness, calorific value and sensoric attributes. Results regarding sensory attributes of bread revealed that the judges liked T1 (Bread made from chickpea, lentil and pea (2.5% each) supplemented flour) and T2 (Bread made from chickpea, lentil and pea (5% each) supplemented flour) owing to light brown color, pliable texture, pleasant taste, desirable mouth feel and good external and internal characteristics. On the basis of sensoric attributes and chemical composition, two best compositions i.e. T1 (Bread made from wheat flour supplemented with 2.5% chickpea, lentil and pea flours) and T2 (Bread made from wheat flour supplemented with 5% chickpea, lentil and pea flours) along with control (casein and soy) were selected for biological evaluation using Sprague Dawley rats to access nutritional quality of legumes. The results of biological evaluation showed that rats fed on diet containing (wheat flour supplemented with 5% chickpea, lentil and pea flours) showed improved in protein efficiency ratio (2.04%), true digestibility (79.49%), biological value (65.00%) and net protein utilization (51.47%) as compared to other groups. The upshots of this study indicated that addition of legumes (chickpea, lentils and peas) into wheat flour have potential to produce protein enriched bread which may be beneficial regarding health and nutritional aspects.