Utilization of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Flour as an Alternative for Wheat Flour in Bun Preparation

Abstract

Sweet potato is one of the important and under exploited food crops grown in many countries of the world including Sri Lanka. Although there is a high production, methods of utilization and industrial application of sweet potato are limited. In order to increase its utilization, drying can be regarded as a cost effective processing method. Current study was conducted to find out the possibility of using sweet potato flour as an alternative for wheat flour in bakery industry. Solar dried sweet potato flour was mixed with wheat flour and rice flour in different ratios; 75% Wheat flour and 25% Rice flour (Tl: control), 10% Sweet potato flour, 65% Wheat flour and 25% Rice flour (T2), and 15% Sweet potato flour, 60% Wheat flour and 25% Rice flour (T3). According to the consumer preference, best performing treatment was selected. Microbial and physico-chemical (moisture content, crude fiber, fat content, total ash, and pH) characters of the selected combination were determined in triplicates. The storage quality of the selected bun (10% sweet potato flour) packed in LDPE (250 gauge) with or without preservative (calcium propionate-CP) such as T l; control (no added preservatives) T2; 0.3% CP, and T3; 0.15% CP was examined for two weeks period by detecting the moisture (%), colour and microbial quality. Incorporation of sweet potato flour at 10% was successful for preparation of bun with excellent physicochemical and sensory qualities, and it can be stored for 14 days without significant quality deterioration by incorporating of CP (0.3%) as a preservative.