Studies on effect of oat and cheese incorporation on sensory and textural quality of short-dough type biscuit.

In view of their growing importance in human nutrition, incorporation of oats and cheese during the manufacture of short-dough type biscuits was studied. Rolled oats were incorporated at 25, 35 and 45 % of refined wheat flour in short-dough type biscuit formulation. Cheddar and processed cheese were used for flavouring purpose at three levels each, viz. 30, 40 and 50 % on flour basis. The dough exhibited less firmness on oats incorporation as indicated by lower firmness value (21.73 N) as against 25.05 N for control dough measured by Texture Analyser. Addition of cheese to the 25 % oat incorporated dough further reduced its firmness and altered its viscoelastic characteristics. Baking conditions for the oats and cheese incorporated biscuits were optimized as 165 °C for 25-27 min. Sensory evaluation results revealed that the biscuit made from 25 % oat incorporated dough scored highest in most of the sensory attributes including overall acceptability. Cheddar cheese and processed cheese levels were optimized at 30 and 40 % in oats-incorporated dough based on the sensory analysis of biscuits prepared from the dough samples. The moisture and β- glucan contents were 3.93 % and 0.62 %; 4.32 % and 0.60 % for cheddar cheese and processed cheese added biscuits, respectively. The spread ratios were higher in cheese incorporated biscuits than in oat incorporated biscuits. It was concluded that good quality cheese flavoured biscuits can be prepared by incorporating rolled oats in biscuit formulation along with cheddar or processed cheese.