Optimisation of Buckwheat and Sago Flour Ratios for Developing Nutritious Multigrain Bread

Background: Buckwheat and sago are gluten-free indigenous foods with an excellent nutrient profile containing considerable fibre, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants such as rutin. This study was conducted to optimise the buckwheat and sago flour ratios in developing multigrain bread and evaluate its textural and organoleptic characteristics. Methods: The breads were prepared using the straight dough method of varying ratios of refined wheat flour, buckwheat and sago flours: T0 (100:00:00), T1 (50:50:05), T2 (50:50:10), T3 (50:50:15), T4 (60:40:05), T5 (60:40:10), T6 (60:40:15), T7 (70:30:05), T8 (70:30:10) and T9 (70:30:15). Result: The results showed that increasing levels of buckwheat and sago flours led to significant (p£0.05) higher values of hardness (11.46 to 38.61), gumminess (2.41 to 10.46), cohesiveness (0.241 to 0.383), springiness (0.723 to 0.794) and chewiness (2.06 to 7.29), while organoleptic characteristics recorded lower values of taste (6.7 to 8.5), colour (6.5 to 8.2), texture (6.81 to 8.20), flavour (6.9 to 8.0), appearance (6.8 to 8.10) and overall acceptability (6.5 to 8.5) as compared to control bread (T0). Among all the formulations, T9 i.e., incorporation of 26.08% buckwheat and 13.04% sago flours, recorded acceptable textural and sensory characteristics for developing commercial multigrain bread.