Effect of inulin on textural and sensory characteristics of sorghum based high fibre biscuits using response surface methodology.

Five blends of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) flour (25.0-45.0 %) and whole wheat flour were used to make biscuits using inulin (5.0-10.0 %) and guar gum (1.0-2.0 %). An experimental investigation was carried out with the aim of evaluating the effect of fat replacer (inulin) and sorghum flour on the quality of high fibre and low calorie biscuits. For this purpose, the biscuit dough and the biscuit samples were analyzed. The analysis was based on hardness of the dough, hardness of the biscuit, fracturability and overall acceptability (OAA) scores. Results showed that increasing the amount of sorghum flour in biscuit increased the dough hardness and biscuit hardness, whereas, biscuit fracturability decreased and OAA scores increased up to the level at which sorghum flour ranged from 35.0 to 40.0 % after which it decreased. An increase in the amount of inulin was followed by an increase in biscuit hardness, while, fracturability and OAA scores decreased and there was little effect on the dough hardness. Optimum conditions generated from the analysis was 40.8 % sorghum flour, 6.5 % inulin and 1.0 % guar gum. The predicted response in terms of dough hardness, fracturability, biscuit hardness and OAA were 212.4 g, 36.4 mm, 4.8 kg and 7.06, respectively. The desirability of the optimum condition was 0.827.