Physicochemical, Functional and Pasting Characteristics of Three Varieties of Cassava in Wheat Composite Flours

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the physicochemical and functional properties of cassava flour and in composite with wheat flour for bakery products.
Study Design: A 3 x 3 factorial design of High Quality Cassava Flour and levels of inclusion in wheat flour were designed for the studies.
Place and Duration of Study: Food Processing and Engineering Division of the CSIR-Food Research Institute, Accra and Department of Food Science, BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden between January, 2012 and January 2013.
Methodology: High quality cassava flour was processed from three cassava varieties as Afisiafi, Bankye hemmaa and Doku duade, formulated into composite flours at 10, 20 and 30% inclusion levels with wheat flour. The Physicochemical, functional and pasting properties of the flours were characterized.
Results: Cassava flour appeared whiter and less yellowish had higher pH and lower water activity compared to wheat flour but moisture and starch content of the flours showed no significant differences (p>0.05). Flour from only Doku duade had significantly igher amylose content than wheat flour. Generally, swelling power, solubility index, solubility volume and water binding capacity were greater in cassava flours than wheat flour. Increasing trend in these parameters was observed as cassava flour inclusion increased in the composite flour. Pasting performance in RVA showed a higher peak viscosity for cassava flour (3500–4089 cP) but lower paste stability and pasting temperature compared to wheat flour. Peak viscosity of the various composites were however comparable to that wheat flour but increasing cassava fraction resulted in early gelatinization and reduced retrogradation of the composite.
Conclusion: The performance of cassava flour and its composite with wheat shows that it can be successfully adopted to replace a significant fraction of wheat flour.