DEVELOPMENT OF BISCUITS BY PARTIAL SUBSTITUTION OF REFINED WHEAT FLOUR WITH CHICKPEA FLOUR AND DATE POWDER

The current investigation was undertaken to optimize the process for development of biscuits using composite flours prepared by addition of chickpea flour and date powder to refined wheat flour. Composite flours utilized in biscuit manufacture were obtained by mixing refined wheat flour, chickpea flour and date powder in different ratios as 100:0:0 (T¬0), 80:10:10 (T¬1), 60:20:20 (T¬2), 40:30:30 (T¬3) and 20:40:40 (T¬4) respectively. The flours were analyzed for their physico-chemical as well as functional properties. Of all the flours studied, chickpea flour had the highest value for ash, fat and protein content as 3.30%, 5.40 % and 21.88% respectively. Date powder contained highest crude fiber content (9.05%) but lowest protein content (1.96%). Refined wheat flour had highest values for most functional properties like water absorption capacity (158%), oil absorption capacity (139.60%) and bulk density (0.95 g/ml). Foaming capacity and LGC were observed to be highest for chickpea and date powder respectively. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) was observed in diameter and thickness of different biscuit samples however, spread ratio and spread factor differed significantly (p