Effect of different surfactants namely, lecithin, glycerol monostearate (GMS), sodium stearoyl‐2 lactylate (SSL) and di‐acetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides (DATEM) at three different levels (0.25, 0.5 and 1%) on the rheological and micro‐structural characteristics of multigrain premix incorporated wheat flour (MWF) were studied. Surfactants significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased the consistograph water absorption capacity, tolerance, alveograph average abscissa at rupture and mixogram peak value of MWF and decreased the consistograph dough development time, alveograph tenacity, mixograph height and width. DATEM and lecithin decreased the rapid visco analyzer peak viscosity of MWF, whereas GMS and SSL increased the same. The maximum increase in tolerance and peak viscosity were observed with GMS and SSL at 0.5% level when compared to other surfactants at the same level. SEM studies showed thick protein matrix with 0.5% of SSL and DATEM, whereas with GMS, the protein matrix appeared smooth, uniform and continuous. Among the surfactants studied, GMS and SSL at 0.5% level showed maximum effect on the rheological and micro‐structural characteristics of MWF.
Practical Applications
Rheological characteristics of wheat flour are effective in predicting the behavior of the dough during processing and the quality of end product. Incorporating multigrain premix to wheat flour adversely affected the rheological characteristics of wheat flour. This article discusses the improvement effect of different surfactants on the rheological and micro‐structural characteristics of multigrain premix incorporated wheat flour. This article also suggests the better surfactant for multigrain incorporated wheat flour to improve its rheological characteristics. Knowledge of functionality of different surfactants on multigrain incorporated wheat flour will be very much useful for the industries to develop nutritious multigrain products with desired quality using surfactants.