Asian salted noodle and wheat tortilla quality: Impact of amylose content adjustments using waxy wheat flour

A small-scale (35 g) laboratory method for Asian salted noodle processing was developed. Processing, cooking, and textural properties of noodles prepared using six (6) Nebraska hard red winter wheats (Triticum aestivum L.) (HRWW) were evaluated; results from the laboratory noodles and pilot-plant products were highly correlated. The laboratory method had high precision, and was comparable to the pilot-plant method. Two wild type wheat flours, Nuplains (HWWW) and Centura (HRWW), were blended with a waxy (amylose-free) flour at seven different ratios to generate fourteen (14) flour blends with amylose contents ranging between <1% and 29%. Flour blends were characterized for their physicochemical composition, swelling characteristics, dough rheological properties, and thermal pasting properties. The waxy wheat had a higher (10.4%) starch damage than wild type wheats (6.6–7.0%) under the same milling conditions. Waxy flour had an unusually high Farinograph water absorption (79.5%, ≈20% higher than wild type flours) and it formed a weak dough. Both waxy type and wild type starch granules were present in flour blends, and each of them individually contributed to specific Rapid Visco Analyser pasting properties. There were two viscosity peaks, one at 82°C (waxy) and one at 95°C (wild). Both Asian salted noodles and hot-press tortillas were prepared; product qualities including texture during processing/cooking/baking/storing were evaluated. Tortilla shelf stabilities during 30 days of storage were also studied. Flour amylose content greatly impacted Asian noodle and flour tortilla qualities. Adding 20–30% waxy flour into wild type flour improved the Asian salted noodle quality, and the optimal amylose content was 21–24%. The appropriate level of waxy flour addition was 10–20% for hot-press wheat tortillas, and the optimal amylose content appeared to be 24–26%. The waxy blends used in this research could be used in the food or flour milling industries; no significant covariate effect with protein quantity and/or quality was found.