The effects of water addition and baking time on process optimization of pumpkin muffins: a pilot plant scale study

Pumpkin muffins are rich in fiber but have low expansion volume and high hardness. To date, research on pumpkin has only been conducted a laboratory scale. Therefore, pilot plant study is needed to optimize its production an industrial This work aimed determine the processing conditions that could produce optimum quality of Water addition baking time were chosen as optimization variables, color, moisture content, hardness selected response variables. Optimization was using Response Surface Methodology Design Expert 7.0® program. The mathematical models for brightness hue cubic models, those volume, quadratic models. results with desirability value 0.884 obtained from 48% water 22 minutes. resulting had lightness 41.21, 70.74, content 27.96%, 185.39%, 2.91 N contained 27.96% moisture, 2.23% ash, 18.59% fat, 5.85% protein, 45.37% carbohydrates, 8.76% dietary fiber. These findings provide new insights researchers bakery industries improve local food sources.