Evaluation of nutritional, textural and particle size characteristics of dough and biscuits made from composite flours containing sprouted and malted ingredients.

Composite flours (CF) using cereals, legumes, millets, soy-protein isolate, dairy ingredient and fruit without refined flour were used for preparing multi-nutrient biscuits. Dough and biscuits were evaluated for physical, nutritional and textural properties, particle size, colour and sensory evaluation and compared against refined-flour biscuits (C). Effect of malting and sprouting on biscuit quality were also analyzed. The highest volume of particles for CF was 140 μm higher than C flour. CF biscuits had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lower spread ratio and % weight loss compared to C. The hardness, stickiness and cohesiveness values of CF doughs were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lower than C resulting in lower cutting strength and increased hardness of CF biscuits. Sprouting further decreased hardness of CF dough. Nutrient content of CF biscuits (sprouted and unsprouted) were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than C biscuits. Sensory evaluation showed CF biscuits especially with sprouted flour had higher acceptability and were superior to C.