Addition of cassava flours in bread-making: Sensory and textural evaluation

Cassava flour has a great potential as a more economical and sustainable alternative to wheat flour in bread production in Latin America. However, impaired baking properties, compared to wheat flour, constitutes a challenge. The aims of the present study were to 1) obtain knowledge about how the use of different quantities and types of cassava flour in bread-making affect sensory, textural and physical properties and 2) examine the relationship between sensory texture attributes and results from TPA and physical measurements when testing bread products made with blends of wheat and cassava flour. Further, the effect of fiber (Psyllium husk, water-soluble) was tested in order to examine the effect of fibers in bread made with cassava flour. Results showed that, depending on the type of cassava flour, up to 30% of the wheat flour could be replaced without any significant differences from control bread. Addition of fibers resulted in a lower volume and harder and more cohesive crumb structure. Good pairwise correlations were obtained between results from sensory descriptive analysis and instrumental measurements while a multivariate approach revealed differences in the extracted information, stressing the importance of looking at data from a multivariate perspective as texture is a multidimensional property.