Influence of Substitution of Wheat and Broad Bean Flour for Hydrolyzed Quinoa Flour on Cookie Properties †.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an important pseudocereal for its high nutritional value, versatility in cooking, gluten-free nature, and potential contribution to food security and sustainable agriculture. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different levels of substitution (10, 20, and 30%) of hydrolyzed quinoa flour (HQF) on the nutritional, physical, and antioxidant characteristics and protein digestibility of cookies elaborated with wheat and broad bean flours. Cookies without HQF were the control (C0). The addition of HQF increased the protein content by between 12 and 68% compared to C0. The increase in HQF improved the cookies' quality according to the spread ratio. Adding HQF resulted in more compact cookies, decreasing their specific volume (1.30 to 1.15 cm3/g) and increasing their hardness (2791 to 6515 g). The total polyphenols increased by 2 to 3 times, and the antioxidant activity increased by more than three times with a 30% addition of HQF with respect to C0. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity with fluoresceine (ORAC-FL) index (stoichiometry or amount of antioxidants) revealed that up to a 20% and 30% addition of HQF increased the antioxidant compounds by up to ~1.5 times. On the other hand, the antioxidant reactivity, according to the oxygen radical absorbance capacity with pyrogallol red (ORAC-PGR) index, increased by 2.4 times with a 30% addition of HQF. Finally, the cookies' digestibility improved with a 10% addition of HQF. Therefore, HQF represents a viable option in the development of cookies with highly reactive antioxidant compounds that are nutritionally improved. This application could be extended to other baked products. However, a 30% addition of HQF affects its textural properties and decreases its digestibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]