Yeast leavened banana-bread: Formulation, processing, colour and texture analysis

Banana powder (BP) was added to hard-red spring wheat (HRSW) flour intended for yeast-leavened bread formulation. Five different formulations containing 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% BP were prepared with varying amounts of base flour, while vital gluten was maintained at 25% in all blends. Based on the added BP amounts only, the prepared bread could deliver 42.87–128.6 mg potassium/30 g of bread (one regular slice) and 0.33–1.00 g of fibre. Although the dough water absorption was increased, due to BP addition, the dough mixing tolerance (MTI) decreased. The bread loaf volume was significantly higher than the control except for the 30% blend, where the loaf volume was similar to the control. Bread staling increased with BP levels due to the high sugar content but, this effect was limited to the first two days of storage. Blends exhibited darker colour due to the high sugar and protein, while the 25% and 30% blends had the lowest percent of freezable water. The amounts of acetic acid extractable proteins from the dry blends and the dough decreased with increase in BP. The linear rheological properties of the control, 10%, and 30% blends exhibited similar viscoelastic solid behaviour, where both G′ and G′′ had plateaus (G′ > G′′) and they were parallel to each other over three decades of the frequency. Blends showed higher moduli values than the control.