SWEET BREAD ENRICHED WITH CARROT FLOUR: Microbiological and physicochemical characteristics

Abstract

Vegetable by-products have gained prominence in the consumer market, as they are great nutritionally rich food alternatives. Carrot is a food highly rich in carotenoids and 30% of its production comes from residues from its processing and, therefore, it is one of the most widely used vegetable by-products in the production of carrot flour. This flour can be used in the production of bread, a food present in most Brazilian family homes. Thus, the objective of this work was to develop sweet bread enriched with different levels of inclusion of carrot flour, as well as to analyze its microbiological and physicochemical characteristics. The bread enriched with different levels of inclusion (0%, 7.5%, 10% and 15%) of carrot flour was developed by hand. The breads were submitted to physicochemical analyzes of pH, acidity, moisture and ash, microbiology analyzes to verify the presence of total and thermotolerant coliforms. The acquired data were plotted, interpreted descriptively for microbiology, submitted to the Tukey Test (5%) for physicochemical data. Higher pH (P<0.05), higher moisture, higher ash content and lower acidity (g/100g) (<0.01) was verified for the inclusion of 15% of carrot flour. All samples presented a negative result for total coliform and thermotolerant coliform determination.