QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF SOME BREADS MADE FROM WHEAT FLOUR SUBSTITUTED BY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF WHOLE AMARANTH MEAL

Amaranth plant grows rapidly, with a high tolerance to arid conditions and poor soils. So, a trial was made to use amaranth meal in producing popular Egyptian breads. The quality attributes of balady, shamy (Egyptian traditional breads) and pan bread produced from wheat flour alone or substituted by different levels of whole amaranth meal were studied. The quality of the produced breads from different blends was compared to that of bread produced from wheat flour as control. Chemical composition, mineral content and the amino acids composition for raw materials were determined. Rheological properties were evaluated by Farinograph and Extensograph for dough produced from different blends of wheat alone and with amaranth meal. Moreover falling and liquefaction numbers were estimated for the studied doughs. Sensory evaluation for different breads was studied and the data were statistically analyzed. Finally, some baking properties of all breads were studied. The results indicate that, amaranth meal contains a good percentage of main components and acceptable percentage from essential amino acids. The Farinograph and Extensograph tests for different doughs containing amaranth were not greatly affected by adding amaranth. So, nearly the amaranth had good character like strong wheat. Data for sensory evaluation indicate that adding of amaranth till 20% was acceptable. The specific volume was decreased with adding more ratio from amaranth related to the percentage of fat in amaranth that affected in Farinograph and Extensograph tests. Finally, the amaranth meal could be utilized in making bread but needs more studies.