Puncture and stress relaxation behavior of blackgram (Phaseolus mungo) flour-based papad dough

Papad is a popular traditional food adjunct in South East Asian countries. The rheology of papad dough is important for the purpose of sheering and/or rolling. In the present study, two methods for testing the behavior of papad dough (prepared from blackgram flour) have been presented and correlated with the instrumental stickiness values. These consist of an empirical method (puncture testing) and a fundamental procedure (stress relaxation characteristics). In the former method maximum stress during compression was used as an index. In the later method, the parameters determined included the stress decaying constants k(1) and k(2), the percent relaxation and the initial compressive stress, These tests were conducted on the papad dough with varying moisture content (32-40%) and at different dough holding (resting) times (0-120 min). Stickiness values in the range of 141 and 148 degrees were suitable for machining of the dough to make flat circular papad sheets. The corresponding moisture content was between 35 and 36% when the holding time was in the range of 0-30 min.