1.0 Introduction
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest certified foods, having been of importance since the dawn of agriculture. There are many combination and proportions of types of flour and other ingredients, and also of different traditional recipes and modes of preparation of bread.
As a result, there are wide varieties of types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads in various regions. Bread may be leavened by many different processes ranging from the use of naturally occurring microbes (for example in sour dough recipes) to high-pressure artificial aeration methods during preparation or baking. However, some products are left unleavened, either for preference, or for traditional or religious reasons. Many non-cereal ingredients may be included, ranging from fruits and nuts to various facts. (Wik.pedia, 2015). Commercial bread in particular, commonly contains additives, some of them non-nutritional, to improve flavor, texture, colour, shelf life, or ease of manufacturing.
Depending on local custom and convenience, bread may be served in various forms at any meal of the day. It is also eaten as a snack, or used as an ingredient in other culinary preparations, such as fried items coated in crumbs to prevent sticking, or the bland main component of a bread pudding, or stuffing's designed to fill cavities or retain juices that otherwise might drip away.
Partly because of its importance as a basic foodstuff, bread has a social and emotional significance beyond its importance in nutrition, it plays essential roles in religious rituals and secular culture. Its prominence in daily life is reflected in Language, where it appears in proverbs colloquial expressions (“He stole the bread from my mouth”), in prayer (“Give us this day our daily bread”) and even in the etymology of words such as “Companion” and “Company” (Wikipedia, 2015).
The banana is an edible fruit, botanically a berry, produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa in some countries, bananas used for clothing may be called plantains. The fruit is variable in size, colour and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. (en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/bread).
These are made from selected clones of the cavedish variety. Fully matured banana fruits processing plant, declustered, inspected and washed. Selected high quality fruits go to controlled ripening Chambers. Fully ripened fruits are again washed, peeled manually, mashed, deseeded when required, homogenized, concentrated when required, thermally processed and aseptically filled, maintaining commercial sterility. (www. Agafruit.com/ban.htm).
1.2 Aims/Objectives of Study
The objectives of the present study was to further characterize the effects of partial replacement of wheat flour by Banana pulp on dough and bread properties. It is desirable that the substitution of banana pulp in bread not change significantly dough and bread characteristics. Furthermore:
- To determine the benefits derived from bread fortified with banana pulp.
- To identify reasons for the consumption of bread fortified with banana pulp.
- To determine the physicochemical and sensory properties of bread fortified with banana pulp.
- Suggest ways for effective consumption of banana fruit.
1.3 Problem Statement
The main raw material, wheat flour for bread production is mainly imported from outside the country. This importation places a considerable burden on the foreign exchange reserve of Nigeria economy. Ripening rooms are very important for proper and efficient banana ripening; not just any room will suffice and these are some things very difficult and expensive to maintain. Also, bananas are highly in viscosity (Contain about 75% water) which pose a big challenge during production. Again, in Nigeria Malnutrition has been a problem due to differences in protein.
1.4 Scope of the Study
This work seeks to produce bread fortified with banana pulp, and analyze the bread for the sensory and nutritional characteristics as follows; sensory (texture, smell, taste, colour/appearance) Nutritional (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, moisture, ash, fibre). However, this work of bye-product of processing, or the evaluation of the nutritional content of the banana pulp.
1.5. Justification
Bread is considered a staple food in Nigeria due to high level of its consumption by Nigerians partly due to ignorance in a bid to maximize profit, most bread producers have severely cut down on the nutritional value of their bread to an extent that majority of the bread obtainable from the Nigerian market can more less be termed as naked starch.
This ugly trend is quite disturbing and unacceptable in a country with a population of about a hundred and sixty million. Hence, the goals of this project are geared towards finding an alternative that is cost effective and capable of eliminating the problem of low nutritional quality of bread as well as encourage the utilization of locally available r aw materials (banana pulp) in food production to create product varieties and reduce wastage resulting from food glut.
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