Influence of Soybean or Pigeon pea on the proximate composition and sensory attributes of bread from Maize-Cassava flour blends

There is a growing global concern over the implication of gluten consumption in the everincreasing incidence of coeliac disease (CD), and the gliadin fraction of wheat has been implicated in this life-long intolerance in genetically predisposed individuals. Bread was therefore produced from various blends of maize, cassava, soybeans and pigeon pea flour. Bread from white wheat flour served as control. The bread samples were analyzed for proximate composition and sensory attributes. The moisture, ash, fat, crude fibre, protein and carbohydrate contents of bread samples varied significantly (p≤0.05) from 30.77 to 41.68, 1.14 to 1.95, 1.62 to 5.52, 7.23 to 8.16, 3.65 to 11.18 and 40.79 to 53.29, respectively. The highest protein contents, which were also found not to be significantly different (p≤0.05) from one another, were recorded in bread samples produced from 60:10:30 (maize:soybeans:cassava), 70:10:20 (maize:pigeonpea:cassava) and 80:10:10 (maize:pigeonpea:cassava). The sensory qualities of the bread samples varied significantly (p≤0.05). The texture and taste of the bread samples, which ranged respectively from 2.7 in 90:10 (maize:cassava) to 3.80 in 60:40 (maize:cassava) and 3.50 in 90:10 (maize:cassava) to 4.60 in 60:40 (maize:cassava) improved as the quantity of cassava flour in the blends increased. Bread sample from 60:10:30 (maize: soybeans: cassava) flour blend had the highest score for overall acceptability, among the flour blends.