Effect of pre-cooked yellow pea flour incorporation on wheat tortilla quality parameters

Abstract

Tortillas are a rapidly growing sector of the food market. With a trend in more health conscious consumers, pulse flours have the potential to increase tortilla markets by enhancing the nutritional value of tortillas. In this study, tortillas were made by substituting wheat flour with pre-cooked pea flour at a rate of 75.66, 83.83, and 92.00 g in 200 g batches (flour basis). For each pea flour addition level, water and addition of vital wheat gluten was optimised based on tortilla diameter and opacity. For all pea flour substitution rates, tortillas of comparable quality to a wheat control were made. Shelf-stability of optimal formulations for each pea flour substitution rate were studied over a 20 day period. It was found that all treatments and controls had similar decreasing trends in rollability scores over the storage time. Conversely, tortilla toughness values increased over time, where wheat had overall greater values throughout storage and a more rapid initial increase in toughness values. Tortilla extensibility for the pea flour treatments increased for the first 6 days of storage and decreased for the remainder. Wheat tortilla extensibility decreased throughout storage. Addition of pea flour to tortilla formulations can be accomplished without sacrificing quality and storage stability.