Effects of Flour Particle Size on the Textural Properties of Flour Tortillas

Three wheat flours, hard red winter (HRW), hard white winter (HWW) and soft red winter (SRW), were fractionated by sieving into four different particle size fractions, <38, 38–53, 53–75, and >75 μm. The medium fractions, 38–53 and 53–75 μm, of the HRW and HWW wheat had higher protein contents than the finest and coarsest fractions. The finest fractions had the highest levels of damaged starch. Tortillas made from the medium fractions of HRW and HWW, especially the 53–75 μm fraction, had longer rupture distance and better foldability. The finest fraction yielded tortillas with shorter rupture distance and worse foldability. Fractionation by flour particle size slightly affected protein composition of the flour. Size exclusion-high performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) analyses showed that the compositions of SRW wheat proteins were significantly different from those of HRW and HWW wheat proteins. SRW had more low molecular weight (LMW) and less high molecular weight (HMW) protein than HRW and HWW had. The <38 μm fractions of HRW and HWW had more LMW proteins than other fractions. The amount of LMW proteins of flours correlated negatively with the rupture distance and foldability of tortillas. Particle size of the flours was the major factor affecting the tortilla texture.