Xylanase as a processing aid for papads, an Indian traditional food based on black gram

Papad is an Indian traditional food item having a thin crispy wafer like texture which is consumed as an accompaniment along with meals and snacks. The presence of pentosans in black gram makes the papad dough very hard which makes the subsequent rolling very cumbersome. This work reports on the effective use of xylanase on the handling properties of papad dough and further the effect on quality of papads processed therefrom. Addition of 50 mg kg−1 of xylanase in the black gram flour and resting the dough for 30 min significantly eased the rollability as seen from texture profile analysis of the dough and also from subjective analysis employing 25 volunteers. It also marginally reduced the oil uptake during frying. Addition of xylanase did not alter the characteristics of papads after roasting, microwaving or frying.