Wheat-Flour Tortillas

Maize. Bread is made from maize flour in Latin America. Mexican tortillas are an unleavened maize bread, i.e. they are essentially chapatis made from maize rather than wheat flour. 

Ghosh et al. (2004) reported the effects of ground flaxseed on wheat flour tortilla quality. Ground flaxseed addition significantly increased water absorption and decreased dough strength. However, the presence of nonstarch... 

Ghosh, P., Chakraborty, M., Sorenson, B., Berzonsky, W.A., and Hall, C., Ill 2004. Effects of ground flaxseed on the processing and quality parameters of wheat flour tortilla. Presented at AACC Annual Meeting Conference, San Diego, CA. 

Uses of partial-waxy and waxy wheat in Asian noodles, bread and tortillas have been reviewed.269,270,298 French bread made from double-null partial waxy wheat flour retained 1-2% more moisture in its crumb in 24 hours compared to bread from a wild type flour. French bread made from the mutant wheat had a softer crumb immediately and up to 48 hours after baking.299 Wheat noodles are made from flour and low levels of salts, so starch plays a major role in noodle quality. Flours from partial waxy wheats with —10% protein and 21-24% apparent amylose (starch basis) are favored for white salted (sodium chloride) noodles because partial waxy starch swells during cooking somewhat more than non-waxy wheat starch. For good appearing noodles, the flour should be from a white wheat low in polyphenol oxidase, and... 

Both amylose and amylopectin are hydrolyzed to glucose with cleavage of the glycosidic bonds. The human digestive system has the necessary a-glucosidase enzymes needed to catalyze this process. Bread and pasta made from wheat flour, rice, and corn tortillas are all sources of starch that are readily digested. 

According to end use, wheat is classified as soft, hard, and durum. The first two classes are almost always dry-milled into refined flour for the manufacturing of fermented and chemical-leavened bakery products such as breads, cakes, crackers, cookies, and flour tortillas (Figure 1.8). Durums are dry-milled into coarse refined meals called semolina, ideally suited for manufacturing of long and short pasta products. Rye flour is usually mixed with wheat flour for the production of fermented breads including sour breads, especially in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and other European countries. 

Many current triticales have flour extraction rates of more than 70% comparable with those of wheat. Triticale flour can be used to partially replace wheat flour in most food applications. In unleavened or flat breads such as chapatis, wheat flour tortillas, and Injera, triticale behaves like soft wheat flours and the bread-making process needs no modification. This makes the crop especially promising in many countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America where these prepared foods are staples. In leavened breads, triticale has not been able to match the performance of hard wheats. However, it has been successfully utilized to produce noodles, breakfast cereals, and porridges (National Research Council 1989). 

Whole wheat items. Whole hard wheats are used for yeast-leavened whole breads, whereas whole soft wheats are used for various types of cookies. The intermediate protein whole wheat flour is used for whole wheat crackers and flour tortillas. 

The flour is used for the production of yeast-leavened donuts, wheat-flour tortillas, crackers/ saltines, oriental noodles, Chinese steamed bread, pretzels, soft pizza crusts, and gravies. It is also used to produce breakfast cereals, and snacks. 

FIGURE 10.8 General flowchart of the hot-press, hand-stretch, or die-cut industrial processes for the production of wheat-flour tortillas. 

Typical Formulas for the Elaboration of Regular and Whole-Wheat Flour Tortillas... 

What ingredients are necessary to produce a long-shelf-life wheat-flour tortilla with adequate reheatability properties ... 

Sema-Saldivar, S.O., Rooney, L.W., and Waniska, R.D. 1988. Wheat flour tortilla production. Cereal Foods World 33 857-863. 

Salbutes Masa is blended with salt and wheat flour. Hand-made tortilla discs are fried and... 

Nutritional and Chemical Composition of Maize and Wheat Flour Tortillas (per 100 g)... 

Wheat flour tortillas have a high rate of protein digestibility (85%) but relatively low protein quality because gliadins and glutelins have insufficient levels of lysine and threonine (Gonzalez-Agramon and Sema-Saldivar 1988). Lysine is present in about half the amount required for optimum child growth. The protein quality of flour tortillas is improved when nonfat dry milk or related products are used in the formulation. Whole wheat flour tortillas contain 6.9% dietary fiber (3.2% insoluble and 3.7% soluble) instead of 1.8% (0.7% soluble and 1.1% insoluble) of counterparts produced from refined flour (Friend et al. 1992). 

Calculate, and compare the gross and digestible energies provided by 100 g of wheat flour tortillas with the following composition ... 

Gonzalez-Agramon, M.M., and Sema-Saldivar, S.O. 1988. Effect of defatted soybean meal and soybean isolate on the nutritional, physical, chemical, and organoleptic properties of wheat flour tortillas. J. Food Sci. 53 793-797. 

All-purpose flour Also known as family or intermediate flour. Flour produced from a mixture or combination of hard and soft wheats so as to obtain intermediate dough rheological properties. The refined flour contains approximately 10.0%-10.5% protein and 0.40 % ash. The flour is used for the production of bakery products (doughnuts), wheat flour tortillas, crackers/saltines, and gravies. 

Lecithin One of the main phospholipids found in nature with important implications in metabolism and cell membranes. Lecithin is considered an important nutraceutical compound because it lowers blood cholesterol and is key to the synthesis of choline. Chemically, lecithin is the emulsifier phosphatidyl choline, and commercial lecithin consists of a mixture of different phospholipids such as phosphatidyl ethanol amine, phosphatidyl inositol, and phosphatidyl serine. Most commercial lecithin is obtained during the refining process of soybean oil. The egg yolk is also a rich source of lecithin. Lecithin is widely used in the baking, cookie, and wheat flour tortilla industries to improve dough machinability, improve texture, and retard staling. It is generally used from 0.1%-1%. 

Reducing agent Chemical compounds (i.e., sodium bisulfite, cysteine) intentionally added to wheat flour in order to break disulfide bonds and weaken the gluten structure. They are mainly used in cookies, cakes, and wheat Hour tortillas. 

About 30 miles west of Boise along 1-84 is the town of Caldwell. A large Mexican community inhabits the town and, happily, you ll find a couple of good dining opportunities. Tacos Jalisco (219 11th Ave., B 208-465-5788) is about as authentic of a Mexican experience you can get this far north of the border. For tortillas the way they were meant to be eaten, stop at Casa Valdez Tortilla Factory (corner of 5th and Chicago, B 208-459-6461). They serve corn, flour and wheat tortillas hot out of the oven. 

Burrito s wrapper—the tortilla—is an unleavened bread, usually made with flour, salt, water, and fat. (Some of the puffier, Tex-Mex-style tortillas are leavened with baking powder.) For the health-conscious, they now come in fiber-rich whole wheat, along with rice, quinoa, and other gluten-free flours. For a flavor boost, try the spinach, sun-dried tomato, chipotle, and jalapefio varieties. Read the label for ingredients and look for wrappers without added preservatives for best flavor. 

A hour tortilla can be dehned as a circular chemically leavened hat bread. Flour tortillas are mainly produced from rehned hours, although whole-wheat hour tortillas are gaining in popularity. Generally, tortillas are 2 nun thick and have diameters that vary from 15 to 33 cm. Most wheat tortillas are industrially manufactured by hot-press, die-cut, or hand-stretch procedures (Figure 10.8 Sema-Saldivar et al. 1988, Serna-Saldivar and Rooney 2003). Each operation requires different hour specihcations, dough preparation, and baking conditions, which result in various tortilla characteristics. 

Sema-Saldivar, S.O., Guajardo Flores, S., and Viesca Rios, R. 2004. Potential of triticale as a substitute for wheat in flour tortilla production. Cereal Chem. 81(2) 220-225. 

---