Selected Physical Properties, Texture and Sensory Characteristics of Extruded Breakfast Cereals based on Wholegrain Wheat Flour

Directly expanded breakfast cereals were processed with a single screw extrusion-cooker TS-45 with L:D=16:1 at screw speed 120 rpm, shaped on the circular open die 2 mm in diameter. Wholegrain wheat flour in amount of 50, 60 and 70% of total mass was the basic raw material, additionally corn grit, rice flour, cocoa and sugar were used. The initial moisture content of raw materials was set to 17, 20 and 23%. Processing conditions, like process efficiency and energy consumption, as well as selected physical properties, like the expansion ratio, bulk density, water absorption and solubility indexes were tested. Texture profile with Ottawa cell for hardness, adhesiveness and chewiness, and sensory characteristics of breakfast cereals were evaluated. Higher wholegrain wheat flour content in the recipe and higher moisture of raw materials lowered energy consumption during extrusion-cooking of breakfast cereals. The expansion ratio, water absorption and solubility index values lowered with higher initial moisture content of raw materials. Increased moisture level before the extrusion-cooking increased bulk density and textural parameters, like hardness and chewiness of prepared for consumption breakfast cereals. Process management of extruded breakfast cereals according to various recipes and processing conditions allows creating desirable quality of final products.