Quality Characteristics of Bread Produced with Blends of Flour from Cassava, Wheat and Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea)

Food fortification targeted at increasing the micronutrient contents of food with the view to improving its nutritional quality is a pragmatic approach in combating malnutrition which consequently engenders the achievement of ‘sustainable development’ goal three (SDG-3). Hence, this research assessed the quality attributes of bread produced with blends of flour from cassava, Bambara groundnut and wheat. Wheat flour was obtained from production line while low postharvest physiologically deteriorated cassava root (IITA-TMS-IBA011368) and Bambara groundnut were processed into HQCF and Bambara flour, respectively. The flours were blended together as depicted by D-Optimal mixture using Design Expert software (Version 12.0) and total of sixteen (16) samples were generated. The bread baked with the blended flours were analyzed for physical, proximate, sensory and microbiological properties. Range of value for crusts’ lightness (L*), redness-bluishness (a*), yellowness-greenness (b*), browning index, crumb density, crumb porosity, loaf weight and overall acceptability was 29.57-39.52, 0.10-3.96, 8.28-15.27, 0.36-0.41, 0.15-0.29, 0.45-0.52, 56.30-66.30 g and 5.60-7.38, respectively. Moisture, ash, crude fibre, fat, crude protein, carbohydrate and energy value ranged from 1.26-1.87%, 0.31-0.59%, 7.25-26.56%, 4.46-9.91%, 30.98-56.34% and 314.51-415.67 kcal. Crumb elasticity, softness, crust appearance, color, flavor, taste and overall acceptability was 5.12-7.64, 4.96-7.88, 5.68-7.52, 6.28-7.36, 5.84-7.72, 5.44-7.72 and 5.60-7.96. The bread samples were acceptable sensorially as adjudged by the panels. Lower count (load) of viable organism found in composite bread was due to the lethal effect of baking temperature and good hygiene practice. Bread of acceptable quality was produced with blends of flours from cassava, Bambara groundnut and wheat but the optimized ingredient blend formulation obtained was high quality casava flour of 15.10%, wheat flour of 63.67% and Bambara nut flour 21.23% while the calculated desirability was 0.53.