Production, baking and other properties of maize and pearl millet composite flours

Abstract

Maize and pearl millet grains were milled into flour, semolina and grits. The various granulations and wheat flour were blended with 10% to 40% levels of replacement. The rheological properties of these composite flours were determined. Bread was baked from the different blends and the changes in freshness evaluated up to 7 days. Trails were also made from blends of wheat, maize and pearl millet. It was established that the coarser the granulation of maize and pearl millet, the higher the volume of bread baked from them. Freshness and shelf-life properties were also better for coarser granulations. A 1% (w/w) addition of DATEM bread improver increased volume and freshness over malt-lecithin bread improver. However, volume increase was even more with a 2% addition of bakery fat. The effect of blending more than 2 cereals in bread was found to be additive