Steamed Bread Quality as Influenced by the Incorporation of Purple Sweet Potato Powders

As an attempt to develop a value-added food product, purple sweet potato powder was added in a model system of steamed bread as a healthy food ingredient and physicochemical properties such as moisture content, specific volume, spread ratio, color, texture as well as consumer preferences on the attributes such as uniformity, color, flavor, elasticity, chewiness, taste, and overall preference were evaluated. Moisture content ranged from 44.16 to 44.55% (wet basis) and appeared independent on the level of purple sweet potato (PSP) powder incorporation. As a result of the addition of PSP powder, the specific volume of steamed bread decreased from 3.22 to 2.55 mL/g, and value of 4.5% sample was significantly lower than other samples (p<0.05). On the other hand, spread ratio ranged from 2.01 to 2.53, and appeared to decrease as the PSP powder concentration increased (p<0.05), indicating a significant improvement. Lightness (L*) decreased significantly as the PSP powder content increased (p<0.05) for both dough and skin of the steamed bread. In addition, an increasing trend in redness (a*-value) and a decreasing trend in yellowness (b*-value) were noticed. Firmness increased significantly with the addition of PSP powder regardless of concentration (p <0.05); however, firmness was not significantly different among samples containing 1.5-4.5% PSP powder (p>0.05). Consumer acceptance test indicated that incorporation of 3% PSP powder in the formulation of steamed breads would be recommended.