Assessing Consumer Acceptability of Composite Cassava (<i>Manihot esculenta</i>) Bread

Cassava has gained attention as a potential industrial crop. The roots are processed into cassava flour for bakery and confectioneries. With the ever increasingly expensive level of wheat flour import for bread production in developing countries like Ghana, the need for other highly nutritious yet readily available and less expensive source of composite flour is important. The aim of the study was to investigate consumer acceptability of bread developed from cassava flour and wheat flour. A 4 × 3 factorial design was used to develop bread samples (A = 100% wheat flour, control, B = 10% cassava flour + 90% wheat flour, C = 20% cassava flour + 80% wheat flour and D = 30% cassava flour + 70% wheat flour). Sensory evaluation was performed on the bread samples using the 9-point hedonic scale to evaluate sensory attributes like colour, gumminess, mouth-feel, taste, flavour, and overall acceptability. The proximate compositions of the products were also evaluated using the A. O. A. C (2005) official methods. Statistically, there was significant difference among the protein and carbohydrate of all flour products developed. However, the energy content of products with 30% cassava flour replacement was significantly higher than other replicates. The control had the lowest moisture content of 17.5% with product 20% cassava flour replacement having the highest moisture content of 18.2%. In terms of overall acceptability 10% cassava flour replaced bread was rated like extremely ahead of the control sample which was rated as like very much. These results showed that the 10 and 20% wheat/cassava composite flour bread recipe could be a viable alternative to achieve the desired economic, food security and health.