USE OF APPLE POMACE AS A SOURCE OF DIETARY FIBER IN WHEAT BREAD

Chemical analysis of apple pomace revealed that it contains 29.4% neutral detergent fiber and 13.0% pectin. Pomace-flour blends were prepared by incorporating 2, 5, 8 and 11% pomace in wheat flour. Blends were evaluated for their bread making quality. Water absorption increased with the increase of pomace in the blends. Neutralizing the acidity of pomace blended dough did not change the water absorption significantly. As the percentage of pomace in blends increased from 0 to 11, a reduction of 42.8% in loaf volume was observed but neutralization of pomace acidity in dough resulted in only 26.6% reduction in volume under similar conditions. On the other hand loaf weight of the breads, prepared from blends with 11% pomace under unneutralized and neutralized conditions, increased by 7.0 and 3.1%, respectively. With increase of pomace percentage in blends up to 11, the bread firmness increased from 3N in control to 12 and 10N respectively, in unneutralized and neutralized pomace blended dough. Blending of pomace (0–11%) increased baking time from 20 min for control to 33 min for unneutralized and 27 min for neutralized blends. Sensory evaluation of the product revealed that breads containing up to 5% pomace were acceptable.