Physical Properties and Consumer Perceptions of Pearl Millet Sourdough Fresh Bread

Abstract

Bread is a common staple food in developing countries and also in many other regions of the world. Pearl millet sourdough was utilized in combination with whole-wheat flour for bread preparation. Loaf and sensorial characteristics of control bread made using wheat flour were compared with bread prepared using Pearl millet sourdough and wheat flour. Seven different formulations of the millet sour dough (90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%) and 100% wheat flour were evaluated. Bread prepared with millet flour presented good loaf characteristics and sensory attributes. Consumer preference test was conducted using 50 consumers assessing the attributes of appearance, colour (crust), color (crumb), aroma, taste, sponginess, after taste and overall acceptability with a nine-point hedonic scale. The measured loaf characteristics for millet sourdough bread were colour, volume, weight and specific volume. Control sample had the highest overall acceptability score of 7.9, followed by 50% sample recording a score of 6.7 (liked moderately). The least overall acceptability score of 3.6 was recorded by 80% millet sourdough bread. Analysis of variance showed that the specific volume of the bread samples was significantly different at 95% confidence interval. However, the volume of the samples with 60% and 70% millet sourdough were not significantly different from each other. Millet sourdough could be a suitable ingredient for bread formulations, maintaining their nutritional value and sensorial quality in addition to being a gluten-free product.

Keywords: Pearl millet, Pearl millet sourdough bread, loaf characteristics, gluten free, acceptability