Application Studies / Wheat Flour Tortillas

Wheat Flour Tortillas

Industry:

Food

Baked

Confectionery

Attributes measured:

hardness

firmness

stiffness

Background

Wheat flour tortillas are favored for their light and tender bite, especially among those who grew up eating white pan bread. Their strength and flexibility allow use in increasingly popular burritos and wraps. Optimizing product quality and reformulation to include specialty flours and nutritional additives require texture measurements to quantify these key properties. We used the TA.XTPlus to compare the texture of two wheat flour tortillas with respect to extensibility, toughness and tear strength. The products were 13” pressed tortillas made four days earlier. The batches differed only in the shortening ingredient: one contained palm oil and the other a vegetable oil processed to have similar functional properties. Tasting by several experts suggested that the tortillas with palm oil were very slightly more tender, less tough and easier to tear. The tortillas were tested with a TA-108 Tortilla Fixture, a TA-44 Craft Knife, a TA-55 5 mm diameter puncture probe, and pulled apart with a set of TA-96 Adjustable Grips.