Optimization and quality evaluation of functional pasta made from germinated finger millet, buckwheat, and black gram

The investigation was conducted to optimize process variables to manufacture functional pasta from composite flour. The selected grains were steeped, germinated, dried, and milled to produce flour. The flours were mixed at optimized proportions (57.31% buckwheat flour, 12.68% finger millet flour, and 30% paheli dal flour) to produce composite flour. The full factorial experimental design opted for optimization of process variables namely, moisture content (mc) (28, 30, 32, and 34%) and mixing speed (60, 80, 100, and 120 rpm). The optimized multi-grain pasta showed shorter processing time, in-range cooking loss, and higher cooking weight and water absorption capacity (WAC). The highest overall acceptability was recorded for multi-grain pasta processed at 60 rpm with an initial mc of 32%. Proximate analysis of optimized multi-grain pasta showed that pasta contained protein (13.95%), crude fiber (5.05%), ash (2.05%), a lower amount of fat (0.74%), and carbohydrates (71.71%).