Quality of wheat bread incorporated with different levels of peach palm flour (Bactris gasipaes Kunth)

Different levels (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) of peach palm flour were incorporated into wheat flour and their effects on the quality of bread were investigated. Data showed that the nutritional value of wheat flour, in terms of fibre and total carotenoids, improved significantly with the addition of peach palm flour. Rheological measurements, using farinograph and amilograph instruments, showed that the addition of peach palm flour increased the water absorption capacity of the flour mixture up to 12% but decreased the other rheological characteristics. The gelatinization temperature and the temperature at the end of gelatinization increased up to 3 and 14.5 °C respectively, but the viscosity decreased. The bread volume increased between 250–600 ml with the addition of peach palm flour. Textural properties of the bread indicated that the compression force increased between 63–523, 133–1030 and 160–726 g force and the shear force decreased between 26–873, 232–908 and 243–1066 g force on first, second and third day of storage respectively, with increasing levels of peach palm flour. Sensory analysis of the bread showed an improvement in the overall quality of the composite flour. Incorporation of peach palm flour further retards the staling rate of bread. Among the samples, panellists preferred the bread incorporated with l0% and 15% peach palm flour