Rheological Characterization of Chapatti (Roti) Enriched with Flour or Paste of House Crickets (Acheta domesticus)

Abstract

Addition of edible insects to food products may improve the nutritional status but can also influence their techno-functional properties. This study investigates the impact of supplementing wheat flour by cricket flour or paste at different levels (5–15%) on the rheological and textural properties of flour, dough, and baked chapatti. Addition of freeze-dried cricket flour resulted in the highest water absorption. The storage modulus increased at higher level (10–15%) of supplementation to wheat flour indicating an increased dough consistency. Similarly, biaxial extension of the dough showed an increased resistance to extension and decreased extensibility at higher level of supplementation due to a reduced strength of the gluten network. Uniaxial extension of baked chapatti showed less extensible and harder chapatti with the addition of a higher amount of cricket flour or paste. At lower level (5%), incorporation of cricket flour resulted in chapatti with textural properties comparable to the reference. Oven dried cricket powder is suggested as the best option for incorporating in chapatti dough to improve food security in Asian Countries.

Optimizing the Rheological and Textural Properties of Chapatti Enriched with House Crickets (Acheta domesticus) Flour Using Hydrocolloids by an I-Optimal Design

“…House crickets ( Acheta domesticus ) were purchased from Nusect (Ledegem, Belgium). Cricket flour was prepared according to the procedure described by Khatun et al (2021) [ 16 ]. Briefly, immediately after collecting, the crickets were kept at refrigeration temperature for 24 h after which the crickets were blanched and dried in a forced-air oven (UFB500, Memmert, Büchenbach, Germany) for 17 h at 65 °C.…”

“…Chapatti was prepared according to the method described by Khatun et al (2021) [ 16 ]. A pasta sheeter (Model KAX 980 ME, Kenwood, Italy) was used to make the chapatti sheet of approximately 1.9 mm thickness which was then cut into a dimension of 12 cm x 10 cm.…”

“…The dynamic rheology of the formulated dough was measured by a rheometer (model MCR 301, Anton Paar, Ostfildern, Germany) using parallel serrated plates (25 mm diameter) with a strain sweep from 0.01 to 100% at a frequency of 1 Hz as described by Khatun et al (2021) [ 16 ]. When applying a strain sweep, the stress value required to obtain a specific strain was correlated with the storage modulus (G′, stored energy or elastic behavior) and the loss modulus (G″, dissipated energy or viscous behavior) in the dough.…”

“…The biaxial extensibility of dough was measured using a texture analyzer (Stable Micro system TA.XTplus, Godalming, Surrey, England) with a tortilla/pastry rig (HPD/TPB) as described by Khatun et al (2021) [ 16 ]. Briefly, after mixing, the dough was rested for 5 min and sheeted to a thickness of ≈1.9 mm by a pasta sheeter (Model KAX 980 ME, Kenwood, Treviso, Italy).…”

“…Chapatti is a staple diet in the Asian subcontinent that act as a major source of nutrition. A research on increasing nutrition of chapatti by the addition of crickets flour showed that 5% addition was possible without altering the techno-functional properties, while an increased hardness and reduced extensibility of chapatti at higher content of cricket flour (10–15%) were observed [ 16 ]. Whereas inclusion of high amount of cricket flour can facilitate further nutritional improvement in chapatti.…”