ABSTRACT

Physico-chemical and sensory properties of acha' based bread was investigated. Bread sweetened with date fruit powder was produced from different blends (10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50 and 60:40) of wheat and acha, respectively. Bread made with 100% wheat flour served as a reference sample. Functional properties of the flour samples and physicochemical and sensory properties of the bread were evaluated using standard laboratory procedures. The data generated were statistically analysed by One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Product of Service Solution (Version 22). The functional properties of the flour samples ranged from 0. 72 to 0.86 g/ml, 1.85 to 2.02 g/ml, 1.48 to 1.98 g/ml, 7.35 to 12.83 %, 2.82 to 4.76 %, 2.96 to 5.96 g/ml, 0.91 to 0.97 Sec and 60.14 to 70.24 °C for bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, foam capacity, foam stability, swelling index, wettability and gelatinization temperature respectively. The proximate composition of the bread samples varied from 10.84 to 23.42 %, 8.83 to 13.16 %, 0.62 to 0.87 %, 10.99 to 13.55 %, 1.38 to 1.83 %, 50.30 to 64.10 % and 353.19 to 413.52 Kcal/IO0g for moisture content, crude protein, crude fibre, fat, ash, carbohydrate and energy value respectively. The physical properties of the bread ranged from 205.20 to 206.74 g, 345.71 to 530.62 cm, 1.12 to 2.62 cm?/g, 0.38 to 0.90 g/cm, 6.57 to 10. 93 cm and 202.42 to 310.04 cm for weight, volume, specific volume, density, oven spring and width, respectively. The sensory results revealed that the bread samples varied in appearance (5.60 to 8.00), taste (4.72 to 7.00), texture (5.04 to 7.28) and aroma (5.04 to 6.88) with the control having the highest rating for general acceptability followed by bread made from blends of 60 % wheat flour and 40 % acha flour.