Determination of Functional, Rheological and Antioxidant Properties of a Developed Good Quality Composite Wheat-Sologold Sweet Potato Flour for Bakery Products

Sologold sweet potato flour is a nutritious flour that contains valuable antioxidants and functional compounds which is suitable for bakery production. The high consumption of baked products prepared wholly from wheat flour can lead to health related challenges such as celiac disease, gluten related allergies, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. These anomalies can be prevented through the incorporation of sologold sweet potato flour with high antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties into the wheat flour for the production of such baked products. Therefore, it is essential to determine best blend flour quality. The objective of this study is to evaluate the functional, rheological and antioxidant properties of a developed composite wheat-sologold flour for bakery products. Complete randomized design (CRD) was employed and the composite flour properties were determined using the Association of official analytical chemist methods. The result of this study shows that sample B3 is the best blend composite. However, sample A1 had no phenolic and anthocyanin contents while sample A2 had the highest total phenolic (42.4), anthocyanin content (48.5) and reducing power (65.8gFe/gfw) while B1 exhibited the lowest reducing power (18.2gFe/gfw). The optimum blend B3 had total phenolic content of 16.5 mgGAE/100gfw, total anthocyanin content of 12.5 mgCyE/100gfw, DPPH 23.8%, FRAP 27.0 mgFe/gfw, peak viscousity 699.1 RVU, bulk density 0.80 g/ml, water absorption capacity 2.20g/g, oil absorption capacity 1.75g/g, peak time 4.4mins and pasting temperature of 799oC.The peak viscosity, final viscosity and set back values showed a significant decrease with the addition of sologold sweet potato flour which resulted in reduction in swelling. Thus, the composite flour optimum blend from sologold sweet potato is a valuable ingredient for developing healthy and functional baked products that promotes health and well-being.