Effect of wheat and corn germs addition on the physical properties and crackers sensory quality

<p>Crackers are a potential material for the addition of cereal germs as a functional ingredient because they are a popular bakery item. The suitability of cereal germs for crackers production was investigated in this study. The effect of cereal germs incorporation to wheat dough (at level 5, 10 and 15%) on the physical properties (specific volume, volume index, width, thickness and spread ratio) and sensory parameters (appearance, firmness, taste, odor and overall acceptability) of cracker were evaluated. It was shown that wheat and corn germ addition to crackers resulted in decreased specific volume from 1.65 cm³.g^-1(control sample) to 1.52 cm³.g^-1 (10% corn germs addition) and volume index 3.20 cm (control sample) to 2.57 cm (15% wheat germ), whereas spread ratio increased from 4.71 (fine wheat flour) to 5.06 (15% corn germ). No significant differences were found between the values obtained for width and thickness for crackers supplemented with 5% wheat germ to control sample. Addition of corn germ and wheat germ at level 15% caused decrease volume index of crackers about 13 and 20%. On the other hand enriched crackers of wheat germ and corn germ at level 15% was increment spread ratio by 5 and 7%. Regarding to sensory properties the overall appearance was affected significantly by addition of wheat and corn germ. Higher addition of wheat and corn germ in the crackers adversely affected firmness, taste and odor of final products. In generally, sensory properties of crackers were markedly affected with addition of cereal germs. The most significant differences were observed in appearance of crackers, when the 15% of wheat or corn germs were added (15 and 30% decreasing of this attribute in compare to control sample, respectively). The results of sensory analysis also showed that the crackers incorporated with wheat germs up to 10% level resulted in products with good acceptability.&nbsp;</p> <!--[endif] -->