Banana Based Composite Flour Blends for the Development of Low Gluten Convenience food

Banana plays a vital role in the nutrition and well-being of millions of people. With the change in lifestyle, people prefer convenient foods and pizza is one among it. In this study, pizza base was prepared by partial replacement of semolina with banana based composite flours, viz., green-banana flour (GBF), banana modified-starch (BMS) and banana peel-flour (BP). Addition of GBF, BMS and BP increased the ash and crude-fibre content of formulated dough. Pizza base prepared with banana based composite flour recorded positive effect on nutritional profile with 19–27% reduction in calories. Increase in higher level of substitution decreased the spread-ratio and specific volume after baking. Low gluten content (up to18-24%) in developed product is a positive outcome of substitution. The presence of total carotenoids in the GBF influenced the colour property of the final product with improved yellowness index (YI) values. Addition of BMS attributed to increased firmness values in composite pizza base. Sensory evaluation showed that formulation with 10% GBF, 0.4% BMS and 0.6% BP was preferred with acceptable colour, firm crumb and taste next to control. Therefore, the addition of nutritionally rich GBF, BMS and BP, can possibly be a choice to develop fibre enriched, low gluten pizza base with commercial feasibility and functional health benefits.