Physical and Sensory Properties of Bread and Roti Made from Rice-Wheat Composite Flour

Guyana is targeting a reduction in its food import bill by substituting wheat, a major food commodity imported, with locally grown crops. In this study, the physical and sensory characteristics of value-added products (bread and roti) made from various ratios of rice-wheat composite flour were examined to ascertain whether rice flour might be successfully used to partially replace wheat flour. Bread and roti were produced from rice-wheat composite flours at rice:wheat ratios of 0:100, 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, and 80:20. Physical evaluation showed significant differences in the width, height, weight, and volume of bread produced from the composite rice-wheat flour and the control (p≤0.05). Significant differences were also observed for the thickness and weight of the roti (p=0.005 and p= 0.024 respectively). There were no significant differences in the length among treatments for both bread and roti (p=0.74 and p=0.10, respectively). The length, height, weight and volume of bread and the length, thickness and weight of roti produced from 20% rice flour+80% wheat flour was statistically similar with the control (100% wheat) treatments (p>0.05). For the sensory evaluation, there were significant differences for all attributes evaluated including aroma, colour, texture, taste, and overall acceptance (p=0.001). Sensory attributes for bread treatments made from 20% rice flour+80% wheat flour and roti treatments made from 20% rice flour+80% wheat flour and 40%rice flour+60% wheat flour was similar to the control (p>0.05). The study revealed that substituting 20% of wheat flour with rice flour in products such as bread and roti is possible without compromising the quality and sensory characteristics of the products.