Corn bread manufacture: the prospect of using composite flour for corn bread

Abstract

This report discusses the commercial prospects of admixing wheat flour with the right proportion of corn meal/Flour to produce an acceptable corn bread. The technique of bread making relics on too principle of gas production within the dough and the ability of the dough to hold this gas to produce an acceptable texture in the bread. The dilution of the wheat flour, which possesses this desired quality, with corn meal/flour causes a loss in this property and therefore produces a heavy and dense texture. From experiments and pilot studies the level of corn meal/flour should be about 20%. There are three types of corn material that can be used for producing corn bread. The whoIe corn meal, the polished corn meal and the corn flour in that order of sophistication in processing. The whole corn meal which is recommended for the small scale producer has the disadvantage of inducing rancidity in the bread and therefore does not permit storage of the bread. The polished corn meal which is degermed and dehusked improves the storage quality. There are very limited equipment available in this country for this process, and the service is not well organised to facilitate the work of the baker. Consequently the use of manufactured corn flour appears to be the most appropriate form if the practice should gain any popularity among the bakers. At present there is only one factory at Tema that has the facilities for producing corn flour, and even then its capacity is already being fully utilized for the production of textile starch for the textile manufacturers whose demand this factory is hard pressed to meet