Quality Characteristics of bread made from Wheat and Fluted Pumpkin seed flour

Bread fortified with fluted pumpkin seed flour was made; the seeds of fluted pumpkin were extracted and processed into raw dried flour. Appropriate quantities of wheat and fluted pumpkin flour (on dry weight basis) were measured and mixed to give the following blends, 90:10, 80:20, 60:40, 50:50, wheat/fluted pumpkin seed flour and 100% wheat flour as control. Proximate composition of bread made from the flour blends was determined. Wheat/fluted pumpkin flour bread had protein content that ranged from 10.22 to 19.36%, fat content: 2.98 to 13.81%, ash content: 1.89 to 4.90%, crude fibre content: 6.00 to 9.83%, carbohydrate: 27.63 to 52.71%, moisture content: 27.80 to 34.38%, loaf volume: 1.75 to 2.80cm , loaf firmness: 80.0 to 97.6N/m . Sensory evaluation based on crust colour, crumb texture, taste, flavor, appearance and general acceptability showed that 90:10% and 80:20% wheat/fluted pumpkin flour bread were both acceptable at 1% and 5% level of significance when compared with 100% wheat bread. This shows that fluted pumpkin seed flour can be substituted up to 20% level in bread making so as to give acceptable loaf volume quality which wheatbread is known.Key words: wheat, fluted pumpkin seed, bread, qualit