Influence of replacing wheat bran with barley bran on dough rheology, digestibility and retrogradation behavior of chapatti

Refined wheat flour and hulless barley bran (from 9 different cultivars) were blended to create nine composite flours and their functionality compared with a control wheat flour. Mixolab studies revealed that replacing wheat bran with barley bran increased dough water absorption up to 71.5% and consistency at peak during heating up to 2.11 Nm, and reduced starch retrogradation by 26.44%. The composite flours contained up to three-times more β-glucan and significantly more total phenolics including flavonoids. Chapattis prepared from the composite blends had significantly more slowly digestible and resistant starches. Incorporating barley bran lowered starch retrogradation, based on more soluble starch and soluble amylose, and the starch retrogradation index correlated positively with decreases in soluble starch and soluble amylose. Total β-glucan correlated negatively (r = −0.846, p < 0.05) with starch retrogradation index, indicating that β-glucan is associated with starch retrogradation.