Effect of psyllium husk and wheat mill bran fractions on the microstructure and mixograph characteristics of Arabic bread.

When psyllium husk, wheat bran and germ was added, Incorporation of psyllium and wheat bran may affect the dough structure, dough rheology as well as the final quality of baked Arabic flat bread, which, thus, became important for this study. Scanning Electron Micrographs (SEM) taken on Arabic bread, depicted both intact small and the large starch granules on the outer crust area. This was mainly due to the rapid loss of moisture from the Arabic bread surface during intense baking operation leaving less moisture for gelatinization to take place. With psyllium added to WWF at 0, 3, and 5 % level, the peak time was increased from 3 to 4.5 min. The ascending and descending angle values were more or less identical in all the samples except with wheat germ addition, whereas much lower values (51 to 58°) for these parameters were observed, indicating a faster rate of dough breakdown. With psyllium, fine- and coarse bran addition to WWF, a corresponding increase in peak time was observed. Ascending and descending angles showed similar trends to that of the WWF and psyllium combinations. Use of falling number apparatus is an indirect method of measuring the diastatic enzyme activity in cereal flours. WGF showed lower falling-number values (502 s) than the WWF (607 s). Addition of fine bran to WWF lowered the falling number (607 to 563 s) whereas with coarse wheat bran and germ, these values were increased.

Pilot scale production of functional foods using red palm olein: Antioxidant, vitamins' stability and sensory quality during storage.

The objective of this research work was to produce acceptable quality functional foods, namely, extruded snacks, digestive biscuits and pan bread, on a pilot scale, using vitamin E and ß-carotene-rich red palm olein (RPOL) and red palm shortening (RPS). These products were evaluated for their chemical composition and sensory quality along with the antioxidants and vitamin contents during the six months of storage at room temperature (22 ±â€¯1 °C). Extruded snacks and digestive biscuits prepared with RPOL and RPS were found to be good sources of these antioxidant vitamins. The average ß-carotene content of the control and test snacks at the end of six months of storage ranged from 26.8 to 56.1 mg/kg fat, and from 430.9 to 468.9 mg/kg fat, respectively. The total vitamin E content in control and test snacks made in Plant No. 1 decreased after six months of storage from 786.1 to 704.4 mg/kg fat, and from 765.1 to 695.4 mg/kg fat, respectively. As expected, the total tocotrienol content was four to five times higher than the total tocopherols in control biscuits. The RPOL containing 600-750 ppm of carotenes (mainly α- and ß-carotenes), 710-774 ppm of vitamin E, was found to be suitable for industrial application in producing acceptable quality pan bread, digestive biscuits and snacks. These functional foods contained significant amounts of ß-carotene and total vitamin E, indicating the possibility of producing such foods rich in these two of the important antioxidant vitamins coming from a natural source. The research findings strongly indicate that good-quality pan bread, extruded snacks and digestive biscuits can successfully be produced to offer healthier eating choices to the consumers of this region, thereby promoting better health and productivity among the population.

Development of functional foods using psyllium husk and wheat bran fractions: Phytic acid contents.

Wheat grain is a rich source of phosphorus which is present mostly as phytic acid and is distributed mainly in the bran and germ fractions. Phytic acid has now been recognized as an important phytochemical having antioxidant properties. This study deals with the determination of total as well as phytic phosphorus contents of psyllium (PS), course (CB) and fine wheat bran (FB) enriched pan bread and Arabic flat bread. The concentration of phytic acid in CB, FB, wheat germ, wholegrain wheat flour (WGF), white wheat flour (WWF), and psyllium were found to be 8.86 mg/g, 8.52 mg/g, 6.05 mg/g, 1.74 mg/g, 0.46 mg/g and 0.02 mg/g, respectively. Most of the phosphorus existed as phytic phosphorus (74.7-90.8%) in FB, CB, germ, and WGF as compared to only 42.6% in WWF. The level of phytic phosphorus in pan bread containing 10% CB, 20% FB (both containing with 5% PS) was found to be 0.63 mg/g and 1.53 mg/g respectively, as compared to only 0.34 mg/g in WWF pan bread, and 0.90 mg/g in WGF pan bread. The phytic phosphorus content in Arabic bread made with WGF and 3% psyllium was 1.32 mg/g as compared to only 0.48 mg/g in WWF Arabic flat bread. The results obtained indicate that the level of phytic phosphorus significantly increased in bread formulations containing CB, FB, and WGF, but no change with psyllium addition was observed. Adding these wheat mill fractions, and psyllium will enable bakeries not only to produce fiber-enriched pan bread and Arabic bread but would also benefit consumers to increase their dietary fiber intakes, and health-promoting phytochemicals coming from wheat bran and germ fractions.

Effect of Psyllium Husk, Bran, and Raw Wheat Germ Addition on the Rheological Characteristics of Arabic (Pita) Bread Dough.

Arabic bread (khubuz) made from white flour is the staple food in the Arabic countries but has now become popular all over the world. A different approach of producing high fiber bread with improved quality can be produced using white flour with added mill fractions, but the addition of mill fractions has been shown to adversely affect the dough characteristics. Therefore, the effect of adding mill fractions on the rheological characteristics of dough was investigated using Brabender Farinograph and Extensograph with the major objective of eliminating their deleterious effects on dough quality, mainly by using psyllium husk, and also reported as an excellent source of soluble dietary fiber. Addition of fine bran, coarse bran, and raw wheat germ decreased the extensibility and resistance to extension and area under curve, lower dough stability, but enhanced water absorption and peak time. Addition of psyllium husk, though reduced the extensibility, but did not affect the area under the curve adversely, thus overcame some of the negative effects on rheological characteristics of the white flour dough. It was concluded that the use of psyllium husk will evidently help the bakers to produce nutritious and acceptable quality Arabic bread.

Amla fruit powder addition influences objective color and instrumental texture of pan bread.

The effect of sun-dried (SD), oven-dried (OD) and freeze-dried (FD) amla fruit powders on the mixing characteristic, objective color (ICI tristimulus L* a* b* values) and instrumental texture was investigated. The addition of differently dried amla powders did not affect the mixograms significantly. The color characteristics were affected by both the levels of addition as well as by the type of powder (SD, OD and FD) incorporated into the pan bread. The L*, a*, b* values were not significantly different for the crusts of all types of the breads at varying levels. However, incorporation of SD, OD and FD powder lowered L*and b* values significantly for the crumb, making it look lesser white but browner in color. The specific loaf volume of bread made with SD and OD amla fruit powders at lower levels of addition gave compression force values and specific loaf volumes very close to the bread made with 20 ppm of potassium bromate. But higher amounts (1-3%) of amla fruit powder resulted in harder bread texture, lower specific loaf volume and also a coarser crumb grain. Therefore, amla fruit being rich in ascorbic acid seems a good choice an alternative natural dough improver in place of potassium bromate which has been regarded as a potential carcinogen and now banned in many countries of the world.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is potentially a good source of important antioxidants.

Six different cultivars of onions available in the Kuwaiti market were analyzed for various physic-chemical properties, such as, moisture content, sugar composition, TBARS as malondialdehyde, total phenolic content, as well as trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, these cultivars comprised of US onions white, US onions yellow, Indian onions red, Egyptian onions red, New Zealand onions golden and Saudi onions white. Layers from each onion bulb were manually cut and separated into three nearly equal portions, i.e., outer layers, middle layers and the inner layers. The outermost layers of the bulb showed the highest concentration of antioxidant compounds and a distinct decreasing trend was observed towards the innermost layers in all types of onion samples. The onion samples studied showed variations in carbohydrate contents (glucose, fructose and sucrose), which would have important implications in affecting the flavor (sweetness and pungency) and the suitability of these onions for processing. An important observation is about the distribution of antioxidant compounds with the highest contents in the outmost layers of the onions than in their middle and inner layers. Unfortunately, these outer layers are generally discarded by the consumers thus depriving them of the important health-promoting phytochemicals.

Development of a functional food (pan bread) using amla fruit powder.

The amla fruit powders were analyzed for ascorbic acid, sugars, pectin, total phenolics (TPC), and total antioxidant activities (TEAC). Fresh amla was found to have 6644.305 mg/100 g ascorbic acid with sun-dried, oven-dried and freeze-dried having 748.427 mg/100 g, 641.364 mg/100 g, 791.233 mg/100 g, respectively. There were no significant differences for the TPC values which ranged from 113.1 for oven-dried (OD), 128.7 for sun-dried (SD), 161.2 mg for freeze-dried (FD) and 1410.5 GAE/g for fresh amla pulp (FA). The TEAC values ranged from 6.6 for OD, 6.8 for FD, 7.6 for SD and 116.4 mM/g for FA. The FD amla fruit powder had the highest total sugars (36.94%, db). The specific loaf volume of bread improved significantly (from 3.54 to 3.79 cc/g) as the level of SD or OD amla powder addition was raised to 0.25% but then decreased at higher level of addition (3.41 cc/g). However, in case of FD amla powder, the bread volume increased up to the addition level of 0.50% (4.09) then decreased slightly (3.95 cc/g) but was still significantly higher the SD and OD amla powders. Similarly, the TPC (from 0.32 to 1.16 mg GAE/g, db), TEAC (0.06-0.14 mM/g, db) and vitamin C (3.80-31.98 mg/100 g, db) contents also improved significantly as the level of amla powders were increased to 1%. The supplemented breads were well-accepted by the consumers. It can be concluded that amla supplemented pan bread with its superior nutritional and sensory qualities can be a possibility to improve consumer nutrition.

Flow behavior characteristics of ice cream mix made with buffalo milk and various stabilizers.

Ice cream made with buffalo milk, using optimum levels of various stabilizers of plant origin, was evaluated for its flow behavior characteristics, with the objective of producing an acceptable quality product. The minimum variation in the viscosity of mix was observed at three rates of shear (348.88, 523.33 and 1046.66 S(-1)) for all ice cream mixes. The flow behavior index (n) of all the mixes having optimum levels of various stabilizers was observed to be less than 1; indicating their pseudoplastic nature. Consistency coefficient (m) of sodium alginate was found to be 1.19; highest among all the stabilizers, followed by gelatin (1.17), karaya (1.08), guar gum (0.75), acacia gum (0.70), ghatti gum (0.36), and the control (0.29). The consistency coefficient (m) signifies the apparent viscosity of the pseudoplastic fluid. The viscosity of the mixes having various stabilizers (optimum levels) was found to be in descending order: Sodium alginate, gelatin, karaya, guar gum, acacia, ghatti and control.