Fructooligosaccharide – Retention during baking and its influence on biscuit quality

Biscuits are the popular category of bakery products which have the potential to act as vehicles for delivering nutritional benefits. Addition of the prebiotic ingredient fructooligosaccharide (FOS) is found to provide both nutritional and technological advantages in biscuits. The fate of FOS in the biscuit matrix and the retention level at which the proposed benefits are achieved are of interest. Here, the objective is to study the retention of added FOS after baking, correlate the retention studies with quality parameters of biscuits such as texture and organoleptic properties, and also with the microstructure and in vitro starch digestion characteristics of the experimental biscuits. The suitable physical form of FOS that confers the intended functionality in the biscuit matrix was also determined. It was observed that the retention of FOS increased with their increasing initial levels. At higher levels, FOS affected texture of biscuits due to disruption of gluten matrix as confirmed by the microstructure analysis. The residual FOS in the biscuit after baking reduced the glucose released during in vitro starch digestion at the same level of its retention.