Quality evaluation of functional bread developed from wheat flour and malted barley flour mixtures

The use of some non-wheat raw materials in the form of flours, extracts, and malts has always been of interest to food producers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional potential of some types of malted barley flour (MBF) to develop a range of breads with improved sensory, nutritional, and technological qualities. Malted barley flour (MBF) contains health-promoting compounds that enhance the nutritional value of bakery products when combined with wheat flour (WF). Two types of MBF (Amber and Chocolate) were used to replace WF in amounts of 10, 20, and 30%. Bread with 100% WF serves as a reference sample. Proximate composition, physical characteristics, sensory characteristics, total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (AA) of bread samples were evaluated using standard laboratory procedures. Following the evaluation, it can be observed that with decreasing the percentage of WF and increasing MBF percentage, the studied bread samples showed changes in the analyzed characteristics. Centralizing the results obtained regarding the sensory analysis of the bread samples, it can be seen that the bread sample with 20% Chocolate MBF was the most appreciated by the evaluators (flavor - 7.62 and taste - 7.45, overall acceptance - 7.87). The results also showed an improvement in the nutritional profile of the breads proportional to the increase in the proportion of MBF (30%) in the composite flour blends in terms of protein, fiber and mineral content, as well as a significant increase in functional attributes such as TPC (12.04mg GAE/g) and AA (92.24 mg TE/g). Therefore, MBF can be considered a wholesome raw material in bakery production