1.0 Introduction
Biscuit may be defined as a thin flat baked product made from flour, salt, sweetening agent fat and preservatives. They are crisps, unleavened and sometimes sweet pastry produced light by the addition — F baking powder or soda, sometimes with chocolate or fruit in put (Achukoh; 1992). Biscuit can also be defined as a baked product having not less than 8% of flour content calculated (Hannemah, 1981). Okaka, 1997 stated that biscuits are termed “cookies” in USA but the Word biscuit means a small cake like bun.
According to Terrell, 1981 there are basically some ingredients that are used for biscuit production such as sugar, salt, milk, shortening flavour leavening. Egg improves the volume of biscuit as well as the taste and flavour. Egg and butter are also used for variety, these improves the quality of the products.
Wheat flour is a critical and principal raw material in biscuit production its. Superiority over other cereals is due to the presence of gluten which inherently impacts all the essential qualities to their products. The absence of this simple protein in non-wheat flour makes them unsuitable as substitutes for wheat flour. Unfortunately, wheat is a temperature crop, there fore, our tropical climate does not favour its cultivation. Flour which has high gluten content are classified as a strong hard flour, and therefore produces a strong dough and thus a strong biscuit is produced (Richtea), while flour with small gluten content produces a soft I weak biscuit (Digestive) Aerating chemicals, syrups and water were further added as one of the basis ingredients for biscuit making (Achukoh; 1992). The production of biscuits involves weighing, mixing, dough formation, kneading and rolling out, machining and shaping, prickling Bakino, cooling and packaging (Okaka, 1997).
The malting potentials of sorghum grains can be utilized to produce soft dough biscuit. Germinated sorghum grains, develop alpha — amylase, carboxy peptidase, endo — beta — 1, 3 — glucanase, pentosanase, limit dextrinase and endo — protease in the grain during malting. Malting involves essentially steeping, germination and limiting cereals, seedling growth by kilning. During germination enzymes are produced for the degradation of starch and protein in the cereal grain. Malting yields higher proportions of hydrolytic enzymes such as X and B — amylases which may be either completely soluble or largely insoluble depending on the variety.
Malted sorghum and wheat flour are used in order to check the baking potential of biscuit, malts produce from sweet sorghum and related variety usually contain insoluble amylase. The insoluble substances that make aqueous extraction impossible (Amori, 1 9 8 7) — Glucosidase in sorghum malt is also highly insoluble malt solid (Barry, and Dorota 1988).
Malting causes a decrease in the density of caryposis in sorghum grain (Isola, 1992). Lower the amount of lysine from 0.25% in unmalted sorghum to 0.18% in sorghum malt (Ilori, 1989) and reduces the milling energy (Swanstoo et al, 1994).
Time and temperature of storage influence the percentage soluble amylase in sorghum grain. For example, sorghum grain stored at 12t 23oc temperature for 2 to 3 years give higher levels of soluble amylase (between 57 — 73%) while nearly harvested grain give about 25%. Lowering the temperature to 7oc reduces the level of soluble amylase in the level of soluble amylase in the grains to about 37% after 3 years (Novellie et al, 1973).
1.1 Aims and Objectives of the Study
To evaluate the acceptability of the biscuit made from malted sorghum and wheat flour blend and to reduce cost of production manufacturers, so as to break even and make gain.
Malted sorghum flour has blended with wheat flour in the preparation of some confectioneries will go a long way in reducing he country's heavy reliance on imported wheat and conserve the Nation Foreign Exchange.
