Effect Of Dough Improvers On The Physical And Sensory Quality Of Acha (Digitaria exilis) Flour Bread

Abstract

Acha bread was produced from acha-grain flour and potato starch flour (11:4) with other principal ingredients (10% sugar, 1.0% salt, 1.5% yeast and 2.5% fat). Improvers (Arabic gum, CMC, egg white) at varied percentages (0 – 10%) were added to the above mentioned ingredients and the dough produced using a straight dough method. The dough was baked at 220oC for 30 –35 minutes to produce bread. The effect of the improvers on the specific loaf volume and sensory quality were evaluated. The specific loaf volume of the acha bread ranges from 1.88-2.70, 1.75-2.07, 1.84-3.0 with increase in the concentration of Arabic gum, CMC and egg white, respectively. The improvers have a high and positive correlation coefficient (r = 0.5 – 0.9) with the specific loaf volume. The egg white among other improvers used had strongest effects on the taste (6.9) and odour (6.84) and colour (6.9) of the bread and compared favorably with that of 100% wheat bread ( 8.0, 7.7. and 8.1 for taste, odour and colour respectively).