Optimisation of sweet bread formulation by use of image processing and response surface methodology

Bread is one of the most widely consumed food products in the world and bread making technology is one of the oldest technologies known. Sensory and nutritional qualities of bread can be affected by the type of ingredients and employed bread making technology. The amount of sweetener addition to produce sweet bread with optimum quality attributes (colour, texture and sensory properties) was investigated using response surface methodology. A central composite rotatable design with three independent variables, the amount of honey (0-10%), sugar (0-14%) and stevia (0-1.5 ml), was used to study the response variables including L* (Y1), a* (Y2) and b* (Y3) for colour, hardness (Y4) and chewiness for texture (Y5), flavour (Y6) and appearance (Y7). Data analysis showed that the addition of honey improved the colour, texture and sensory attributes of sweet bread, while sugar had a negative effect on the colour of bread and stevia considerably improved the sensory properties of the bread. Applying a desirability f...