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BAKERY PRODUCTS FROM SWEETPOTATO

Background

Sweetpotato has long been planted for fresh food market. Processing has been small-scale, catering for the snack food market such as crisps, chip and crackers. Sweetpotato is also used in a variety of traditional cakes and local dessert, and to a limited extent as a thickener in sauces and a ‘body’ to products such as jelly grass and soya bean based drinks.

The main flour traded in the world is mainly wheat (98%). Bakery products were developed using sweetpotato flour to substitute wheat flour totally or partially.

Description of Technology

Sweetpotato tubers are first washed to remove dirt, sliced into match-stick (6 x 3mm) and soaked for 30 minutes in 0.2% sodium metabisulphite solution. It is then drained, spread on stainless steel tray, and dried at 50-60°C in a cabinet dehydrator until crispy. The dried products were ground and passed through a 300 µm sieve to produce sweetpotato flour.

Sweetpotato flour was used to replace wheat flour in the formulation of cakes, cookies and muffins. Bakery products developed used 100% sweetpotato flour in cakes, 57% in muffins and 53% in cookies.

Cakes, muffins and cookies developed from sweetpotato flour through partial or total substitution of wheat flour are of equal quality to that produced from wheat flour. It could be better especially for cakes made from sweetpotato flour. This maybe due to the lower bulk density of sweetpotato flour, compared to that of wheat flour which requires more fluid. Sweetpotato flour also has a softening effect on the texture of the product as it acts as a humectant. Since sweetpotato flour has higher vitamin A, C, E and dietary fibre than wheat flour, corn flour and rice flour, these bakery products from sweetpotato are more nutritious.

C4 : FOOD PROCESSING 001

Source : http://www.mardi.my