Use of fungal alpha amylase and ascorbic acid in the optimisation of grain amaranth–wheat flour blended bread

Grain amaranth–wheat flour bread was optimised using ascorbic acid (0.03% dry weight basis) and fungal α-amylase (10 ppm) to investigate their effects on sensory properties of the breads. Six formulations were used in the ratios of 5:95, 10:90, 15:85, 20:80 and 25:75 grain amaranth to wheat flour compositions, while the control bread had 100% wheat flour. Consumer acceptability and preference ranking tests were conducted to describe and evaluate preference and acceptability of the breads. Analysis of consumer acceptability data revealed that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) for all the samples in all the attributes tested. Overall consumer acceptability results showed no difference at 25% for all improvers. Principal component analysis for descriptive tests performed by a trained panel demonstrated variations among the breads in graininess, elasticity, crumb colour, stickiness and crumb moistness regardless of the improvers used. The study concludes that using improvers to optimise grain amaranth–wheat flour bread can help improve both the nutritional and organoleptic properties of bread.