EFFECT OF ADDED DEFATTED BENISEED ON THE QUALITY OF ACHA BASED BISCUITS

The acha (Digitaria exile staff) grain was washed (tap water), sun dried, milled and sieved (400mn sieve aperture) to produce acha flour. The beniseed(Sesamum indicum) seeds were sorted, washed, sun dried, milled, defatted (using ethanol), dried and sieved (400mn sieve aperture) to produce beniseed flour. The defatted beniseed flour was substituted into the acha flour at 0-20% to produce beniseed-acha composite flour. This was mixed with fat, sugar, salt, baking powder to produce batter. The batter was rolled (on a steel table), cut into shapes (using biscuit cutter), placed on greased trays and baked at 160^oC for 20 minutes. The effect of added defatted beniseed on   the physical, chemical and sensory quality of acha–beniseed composite biscuit were evaluated. The protein, fat, moisture, ash, breaking strength and spread ratio increased from 10.5 to 12.9, 1.80 to 2.15, 1.0 to 1.6, 1.20 to 3.20%, 1.49 to 1.67kg and  6.0 to 7.25, respectively with increase in the percentage of added defatted beniseed. However, the average means of the sensory properties decreased from 8.30 to 4.30, 7.20 to 5.80, 8.50 to 6.30, 8.30 to 4.20, and 7.90 to 3.70 for color, texture, appearance, flavor and general acceptability, respectively at p ≤ 0.05 level of acceptance.  The addition of defatted beniseed above 10% has a significant negative effect on the acceptances of the product. There was an increase of 12 and 16.4% of protein and fat content respectively, at the maximum acceptance level (10%) of the added beniseed flour.