Vinita Puranik
Bakery products are mainly prepared from wheat as its main ingredient. The present study was designed to blend soy flour and maize flour as a source of protein and fibre replacing refined flour to make protein rich cookies. Soyabean is limiting in sulphur amino acid methionine but higher in lysine, isoflavones and protein while maize protein is deficient in lysine and tryptophan and rich in methionine. Thereby blending soy and maize flour nutritional quality can be improved. Cookies were prepared by blending soy flour (SF) with maize flour (MF) from 0 to 100% levels using traditional creamery method. Cookies were evaluated for physico-chemical, functional and sensory quality parameters. Combinations of MF/SF significantly improved (p<0.05) the nutrient contents of the blends when compared to MF alone. The cookie containing maximum level of SF have high content of protein, crude fibre, ash and fat while the cookie containing maximum level of MF have high content of carbohydrate. The cookies with 10% soya flour and 90% maize flour scored maximum for all the sensory quality attributes. The use of soy flour/maize flour blends for cookie preparation is an advantage in a non traditional wheat producing country and in improving nutritional quality too.