Formulation and Numerical Optimization of Finger Millet and Quinoa Incorporated Eggless Doughnuts

Abstract

Background: The consumption of finger millet and quinoa can be increased by partially substituting refined wheat flour (RWF) with these grains in popular snack food item doughnuts. The present study was conducted to formulate eggless doughnuts using composite flour of RWF, finger millet flour and quinoa flour. Method: Response Surface Methodology was used for optimization of process parameters for which seventeen different combinations of finger millet flour: quinoa flour (X1), butter (X2) and curd (X3) were taken as independent variables. The effect of independent variables on the responses (crude protein, crude fat, in vitro protein digestibility, springiness, flavor, appearance) was investigated. Result: Optimized doughnuts (X1=3:1, X2=16.712% of composite flour and X3=25% of composite flour) were formulated, analyzed and compared with control RWF doughnuts prepared under similar conditions for nutritional quality, hardness and sensory quality. Significantly higher values were observed for total ash, crude protein, crude fibre, hardness and springiness of optimized doughnuts in comparison to control RWF doughnuts whereas sensory evaluation showed non-significant difference except for color of the doughnuts. This study showed that the formulated eggless doughnuts were nutritious and could be a good substitute for the market based doughnuts especially for vegetarian people and who are allergic to egg protein.