What is Soya Flour?
Soya flour is a fine powder obtained from grinding roasted soybeans. When added to baked goods, soya flour can improve their nutritional value, mainly increasing their protein content, and enhancing texture via lipid oxidation. 1
Soybean flour is commercially available in several varities: 1,2
* Enzyme -active soy flour
* Enzyme-inactive soy flour
* Defatted soybean flour (less than 1% soybean oil)
* Full fat soy flour (18 – 20% soybean oil)
* Low fat soy flour (4.5 – 9 % soybean oil)
* High fat soy flour (15% soybean oil)

Origin
Soya (Glycine max) is an ancient pulse crop. Its origin can be traced to 7000 BCE China, where it was first domesticated. The earliest known definition of soybean flour was in 1880.
Commercial use of soybean flour started in the 1930s in the UK.2 Today, soybean is considered a major oilseed and its flour is used in a variety of baked products.
Function
Soya flour has several functions in baked goods:1,3
* Nutritional value: improves protein content.
* Crumb whitener: via oxidation of carotenoids present in wheat flour.
* Water holding capacity improver
* Gas retention: by releasing bound lipids, proteins become more hydrophilic and can enhance dough’s viscoelasticity.
* Egg and nonfat dry milk replacer.