Extrusion treated meal concentrates of Brassica juncea as functionally improved ingredient in protein and fiber rich breadstick preparation

Abstract The present work involves utilization of Brassica juncea meal concentrate for the preparation of functionally improved bread sticks. The mustard meal concentrate was prepared and a portion of this was extruded after optimization of process parameters which resulted in improvement of quality of meal concentrate in terms of better protein, less bitterness and lower Allyl isothiocyanate content. Meal concentrate and its extruded form were studied prior to breadstick formulation in terms of their physicochemical attributes. Thereafter, extruded and non-extruded seed meal concentrates were used to fortify wheat flour based bread at different ratios to improve the protein and fiber level compared to the control bread. The study also investigated the physical attributes, proximate analysis and antioxidant properties of the breadsticks produced. Protein content was found between 15 and 20 g/100g sample and fiber content of 6g/100 g was obtained with 15 g of meal incorporation in the products. Sensory evaluation showed that extrusion cooked meal concentrate based breadsticks gained significant improvement in acceptability than the control and non-extruded meal concentrate based products. Results from the present study suggest that extrusion treated mustard meal concentrate proved out to be an excellent choice for use in functionally improved breadstick preparation.