Soybean-fortified wheat flour tortillas Book in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Wheat flour tortillas originated in Mexico, and during the past few decades, they have gained popularity practically all over the globe. This chemical-leavened flatbread is industrially manufactured by a die-cut, hand-stretch, or hot-press procedure. Undoubtedly, the last is the most popular. The formulation of flour tortillas usually contains high amounts of fat or shortening to improve their textural shelf-life. In terms of protein quality, tortillas are considered to have low-to-medium scores because of the lack of the limiting essential amino acid lysine. Also, most tortillas are produced from refined flours that have relatively low levels of total dietary fiber (TDF) and phytochemicals. The fortification of tortillas with soybean products counteract these nutritional and nutraceutical deficiencies because they are high in protein, lysine, and an array of antioxidants that are known to prevent oxidative stress, osteoporosis, chronic diseases, and cancer. The addition of soymilk by-products like okara or soybean bagasse significantly increases TDF. From the processing and functional viewpoints, the addition of soybean proteins (full-fat flour, defatted flour, concentrate, isolates) increases dough water absorption significantly and improves tortilla yields and textural shelf-life, especially in terms of reheatability. In general, the addition of 8%-10% full-fat soybean flour, 6%-8% defatted flour, 4%-5% protein concentrate, and 3%-4% protein isolate practically doubles the protein efficiency ratio of tortillas without affecting the production cost too much. Likewise, the processing of composite wheat flour containing 10% dried okara or soybean bagasse yields good-quality tortillas containing high amounts of TDF and phytochemicals associated with these soybean by-products, as well as better protein quality.

publication date

  • January 1, 2019