Soft textured wheat with high protein content and strength is suitable for making hot-press tortillas

Authors: MA, FENGYUN - The Ohio State University; Baik, Byung-Kee

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/25/2023
Publication Date: 7/27/2023
Citation: Ma, F., Baik, B.V. 2023. Soft textured wheat with high protein content and strength is suitable for making hot-press tortillas. Cereal Chemistry. 100:1203-1214. https://doi.org/10.1002/cche.10703.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cche.10703

Interpretive Summary: Wheat flour tortillas are one of the fastest growing bakery products in the U.S. market. Wheat tortillas are typically made from hard red winter wheat flours, even though they often produce poor-quality tortillas with a small diameter and with protein content and gluten strength higher than required. Eastern U.S. soft winter (ESW) wheat is relatively lower in protein content and possesses weak-to-intermediate gluten strength and a low damaged starch content compared to hard red winter wheat. ESW wheat varieties carrying relatively strong gluten protein have been developed, however, and introduced to meet the demands of wheat millers and food manufacturers for making crackers, which require wheat flour with low damaged starch, a relatively high protein content and strong gluten protein. Those ESW wheat varieties with strong gluten protein have been shown to be suitable for making dough-based products requiring dough mixing and gluten development, such as northern-style Chinese steamed bread and white salted noodles. It is thought that the ESW wheat flours with a relatively high protein content and gluten strength would meet the protein characteristics required for making tortillas, but their flour quality profiles desirable for making tortillas have not been established. We determined the quality potential of ESW wheat for making tortillas and identified grain and flour characteristics desirable for tortilla production in an effort to expand the uses of ESW wheat. Seven out of twenty-five ESW wheat flours having relatively high protein content and high gluten strength produced tortillas comparable to those prepared from commercial tortilla flours. ESW wheat flours low in protein content, but high in protein strength compared to commercial tortilla flours, are still able to produce tortillas of acceptable quality, indicating that protein strength rather than protein content should be considered in the evaluation of ESW wheat flours for making tortillas. The lactic acid solvent retention capacity and sodium dodecyl sulfate sedimentation volume (measures of gluten protein strength) of ESW wheat flours were identified to be effective predictors of tortilla quality parameters including diameter, opacity score and rollability score, further proving the importance of protein strength in making tortillas. ESW wheat flours with a relatively high protein content, lactic acid SRC and SDSS volume are expected to produce tortillas of acceptable quality. The obtained information will provide ESW wheat breeding programs, flour millers and food manufacturers with critically helpful guidance for screening breeding lines, procuring wheat grain for milling, and ensuring wheat flour quality suitable for making tortillas, respectively.

Technical Abstract: The flour quality profiles of soft-textured wheat for making tortillas are not well established, although its protein characteristics overlaps with those desirable for making tortillas. Twenty-five eastern U.S. soft winter (ESW) wheat varieties were evaluated for grain and flour characteristics and tortilla-making quality to identify their flour quality profiles required for making tortillas in comparison to five commercial tortilla flours (CTFs). ESW wheat flours had a lower protein content (PC) than CTFs, while thirteen of them exhibited a lactic acid solvent retention capacity (LA-SRC) and SDSS volume comparable to or higher than CTFs. ESW wheat flours required less water and shorter mixing times than CTFs to yield a tortilla dough of proper consistency and handling properties and produced larger and thinner tortillas than CTFs. ESW wheat flours produced tortillas with an opacity score and rollability score overlapping those of CTFs, and a higher lightness (L*) than CTFs. LA-SRC and SDSS volume exhibited much stronger associations with tortilla diameter, opacity score and rollability score than other flour characteristics. ESW wheat flours with a PC of 8.7-10.2%, LA-SRC of 115.6-142.7% and SDSS volume of 34.6-41.6 mL were identified to produce tortillas of comparable quality to those prepared from CTFs.