ABSTRACT
This study was carried to investigate the quality of bread produced from blends of wheat–watermelon seed flour at varying proportions of 100% WF, 97.5% WF:2.5% WSF, 95.0% WF:5.0% WSF, 92.5% WF:7.5% WSF and 90.0% WF:10.0% WSF, respectively. Functional and pasting properties of the flour samples were determined. Proximate composition, color, vitamins, minerals, physical properties and sensory evaluation were also carried out on the bread samples using standard methods. The results showed that the bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity (OAC), swelling capacity, solubility, dispensability and foaming capacity were in the range 0.63–0.74%, 79.00–97.00%, 86.93–98.30%, 567.7–67.6%, 4.75–8.38%, 10.87–13.88% and 10.00–18.00%, respectively, for different composite flour samples. Proximate compositions for moisture, protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate content were in the range 10.03–10.99%, 2.13–12.89%, 2.47–7.68%, 1.69–3.82% and 65.31–72.83%, respectively, for bread samples from different composite flours. Minerals and vitamins in bread from wheat–watermelon seed composite flour decreased with increasing watermelon seed flour substitution level. The pasting properties of the wheat–watermelon seed composite flour samples ranged from 843.00 to 154.00 cp for peak viscosity, 1876 to 1191 cp for final viscosity, 369 to 77 cp for trough viscosity, 5.47 to 5.87 min. for pasting time and 84.70 to 91.85°C for pasting temperature. The colors for lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) were in the range 7.65–13.50, 6.67–39.13 and 60.87–93.00, respectively. The wheat flour had the lowest specific loaf volume of 1.02 cm3/g. The sensory scores revealed that bread produced from samples 97.5WF:2.5WSF was the most preferred by the panelists and was also described by panelists as having excellent properties when compared to the control samples.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).