Effect of yeast on functional and rheological characteristics of whole wheat flour and its effect on quality of chapati.

Chapati is unleavened flat bread originated from Indian sub-continent and is considered as staple product in everyday meals. Its quality attributes are dependent on number of factors including the wheat used, ingredients added and processing parameters. The study was aimed to observe the effect of yeast addition on functional, rheological, and sensory characteristics on whole wheat flour and chapati at varying percentage (0.25-1.0). All the experiments conducted were compared with a control flour/chapati without yeast addition. The results showed that all the attributes were favourably affected with yeast addition when compared with control samples. It was noticed that the peak viscosity, setback, breakdown and final viscosity decreased with yeast addition and the paste obtained had higher gel strength. Alveogragh results also depict the increase in tensile strength and decrease in extensibility of dough on yeast incorporation. Textural and sensory studies revealed that yeast concentration upto 0.75% w/w in whole wheat flour resulted in chapati with good overall acceptability.