| Over 1.8 billion people consume flat breads daily. Arabic flat bread (AFB) not unlike other breads has a limited shelf-life. The two major considerations of shelf-life are spoilage and staling. Thus, three connected studies were performed to determine if shelf life and the quality of AFB could be extended by adding several types of preservatives and/or improvers.; The first study investigated the addition of preservatives to extend the shelf life of AFB. A control and three preservatives treatments, fumaric acid (0.2%, F), sodium propionate (0.3%, P), and sodium propionate-fumaric acid mixture (PF) were used either singly or in combination. The shelf life of the PF treatment was 16 days compared to three days for the control. Texture analysis and LAIRS did not distinguish any physical difference in the crumb between the PF and the control at day 3.; The second study evaluated the addition of dough conditioners to enhance the quality of Arabic flat bread beyond one day. Five improvers, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (0.25%, SSL), monoglycreides (0.25%, MG), hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose gum (0.75%, HPMC), high fructose corn syrup (4.2%, HFCS), and the combination of improvers were used in the formulation to extend quality attributes. The addition of HFCS and improver combination to the flour did delay staling compared to control. The tensile-tearing time method was more sensitive of an indicator of changes in staling than the tensile-tearing force as determined by a lower C.V%. The LAIRS proved very valuable in detecting the effect of the improvers addition on the changes in the staling of AFB during storage as evidence of a high R2 and a low SEE.; The third study validated the formulation using sensory analysis. A trained sensory panel was used to evaluate quality attributes of the four different Arabic bread formulas. The sensory panel results indicated that AFB with the combination of improvers treatment was preferable over the control at day 3. |
