CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

BAKERY SCIENCE ASSIGNMENT

DUE DATE: 08/04/2019

COURSE CODE: CUHT215

NAMES: MAKUMBORENGA HAZVINEI C18133196W

MUGAIRI KUDAKWASHE C18132463N

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 QUESTION: Briefly outline any two gluten free flours of your choice and critically look at the
nutritional properties and give the examples of products to be consumed. [25]

INTRODUCTION:

Flour is a common ingredient in many foods, including breads, desserts and noodles. It’s also
often used as a thickener in sauces and soups. Most products are made from white or wheat
flour. While unproblematic for many, people with celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity or
those avoiding gluten for other reasons should not consume these two types of flour.
Fortunately, there are a variety of gluten-free flours on the market, each with a different taste,
texture, nutrient composition and end-products. This write hence will only focus on two gluten
free flours which are cassava and coconut flour.

Definition of key terms:

Gluten: A mixture of two proteins present in cereal grains, especially wheat, which is responsible
for the elastic texture of dough.

Gluten free: A food or a diet not containing gluten.

Cassava Flour:
It is a type of gluten-free, wheat flour alternative that is made by grating and drying the fibrous
cassava root (yuca). Otto’s Naturals, one of the leading suppliers of cassava flour, calls this
product the “next generation in grain-free baking” due to its easy-to-use texture and mild taste.
It is made from a cassava plant/root. Cassava is a nutty-flavored, starchy root vegetable or
tuber. Native to South America, it is a major source of calories and carbohydrates for people in
developing countries. It is grown in tropical regions of the world because of its ability to
withstand difficult growing conditions and in fact, it's one of the most drought-tolerant crops. In
the United States, cassava is often called yuca and may also be referred to as manioc or
Brazilian arrowroot. It can be eaten whole, grated or ground into flour to make bread and
crackers.

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Cassava flour is a whole food that retains all of its fiber and can actually be used as a base
(versus just filler) in all of your baked goods. While many other gluten-free flours need a lot of
other ingredients especially eggs to achieve a good consistency, cassava flour can be used by
itself. It is also one of the few gluten-free flours that has a near 1:1 substitution ratio
with all-purpose wheat flour in most baked good recipes that do not require significant
rising. Being that cassava flour does not rise well when mixed with yeast (because of its
lack of gluten), it is not the best substitute when it comes to yeast baked goods. One of
the best things about using cassava flour is its neutrality in terms of taste.Many people
like baking with cassava flour since it doesn’t have a sour taste or smell that fermented,
sprouted grain flours sometimes can carry. It does not have a dry, strong or unfamiliar
taste or texture that often comes with using some gluten-free flours.

Nutritional Properties:

This type of fl our, made from the root of the cassava, contains no gluten. While
this type of fl our is typically course, processing advancements developed cassava
fl our to more closely mimic the texture of wheat fl our, without adding gluten.

Calories And Carbohydrates:

A 100-gram serving of cassava flour – approximately 3.5 ounces – contains 340 calories. The
majority of these calories, 94 percent, come from carbohydrates. Approximately 4 percent of
the calories are from fat, and 2 percent of the calories are from protein. Cassava flour's
contains high carbohydrate content means it serves as an excellent source of energy, and
provides fuel to keep your brain functioning properly. Each serving of the flour offers 79.8
grams of carbohydrates, or 61 percent of the 130 grams recommended for daily consumption
by Institution of Medicine.

Macro-nutrients: Cassava flour also provides you with some protein, and it's low in fat. Each
serving boasts 1.6 g of protein. While this amount helps meet your needs, supplement your diet

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with protein-rich foods to meet the suggested intake of 46 to 56 g per day. This protein
nourishes your tissues and helps your maintain healthy muscle. One serving of cassava flour
also contains 1.6 grams of fat. If you're looking to limit your fat intake, cassava flour makes a
welcome addition to a low-fat diet.

Fiber
The fiber content of cassava flour makes this food a good choice for bowel health. One serving
contains 11.9 grams of fiber. This makes up 46 percent of the recommended daily intake for
women, or 31 percent for men, according to recommendations from the Institute of Medicine.
Dietary fiber may lessen your risk of a variety of disease and conditions, including cancer,
diabetes, diverticulitis and constipation. In addition, including adequate amounts of fiber in
your diet can help you limit calorie intake, this nutrient takes up space in your stomach, making
you feel fuller for longer time periods.

Products to be consumed:

Farofa:

Brazilians use cassava flour and its by products in many of their traditional meals. The
Brazilian side dish farofa is made of coarsely ground cassava flour that is toasted and has
a similar texture to couscous. Cassava flour can also be used to make cheesy biscuits
called pan de yuca.   

Flat breads and Crackers:

Cassava flour is excellent for making flat breads that you can griddle on the stove or grill
outside. Cassava flour can also be used to make tortillas and crepes at home. This flour
is great to use for pancakes or waffl es. An easy pizza crust or naan bread are likewise
excellent recipes to try with cassava flour. Cassava flour can also be used in making
crackers and the product was well accepted by panelists (Suismono and Wheatley,
1991).

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Baked Goods: Brownies, Cookies and Cakes

In the case of brownies, cookies, and cakes you can swap cassava flour in for all-purpose
in most of the traditional, standard recipes. You may need to spend a little time
tweaking the flour/liquid ratio, but most recipes will more than likely not need major
renovation. Brownies seem to be the easiest dessert to start with in your cassava flour
substitution journey.

Traditional Foods:

Several kinds of traditional foods, which are usually prepared from wheat flour, rice
flour or maize starch, were made using cassava flour as a partial or total substitute for
these ingredients. The traditional foods are bala-bala, nagasari, cimplung and bika
ambon.

Coconut Flour:

Coconut flour is obtained by drying, expelling and /or removing the oil or milk from the mature
coconut kernel or meat. The kernel can be pared (removal of the external brown coat) or
unpaired. The flour is usually bland in taste but is a good source dietary fibre (Hossain et al.,
2016). Coconut flour is a byproduct of the coconut milk-making process. Once manufacturers
separate out the creamy coconut milk, they’re left with coconut pulp. The pulp is then dried
and ground into a soft powder. Since coconut flour is made from coconut and nothing else, it
contains a lot of the same health benefits. Coconut flour is growing in popularity as more
people discover the many health benefits of coconut flour nutrition, in addition to its many uses
as a delicious, gluten-free and beneficial alternative to other flours.

Nutritional properties:

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Composition of coconut flour depends on the retention of components after the extraction of
coconut milk or oil from scraped/desiccated coconut. Therefore, composition of coconut
residue changes proportionately.

Dietary Fibre:

The coconut residue is made into coconut flour and believed to contain dietary fiber. Dietary
fiber has been shown to have important health implications in the prevention for risk of chronic
diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. It comes from the family
of carbohydrates, a non-starch polysaccharide, not digested in the small intestine but may be
fermented in the colon into short chain fatty acids such as acetate, propionate and butyrate.
Short chain fatty acids contributes 1.5-2.0 kilo calories/gram dietary fiber (Roberfroid, 1997). It
contains 61 percent fiber which is the highest percentage of dietary fiber found in any flour.

Low in Digestible Carbohydrates:

Refined flours are concentrated in simple carbohydrates which are rapidly metabolized and
cause destructive blood sugar fluctuations in the body. In opposition to this, coconut flour has
been found in several studies to have a glycemic lowering effect, because coconut meat has a
simple carbohydrate content coupled with a high fiber, it yields a flour that is less disruptive to
blood sugar levels.

Rich in Trace Minerals:

While most grain products (namely wheat, corn and soy) are mass-harvested on the depleted
soils of industrial farms and subject to genetic modification, coconuts offer a refreshing source
of naturally occurring trace minerals. Coconut palms are generally found thriving in the mineral
rich volcanic soils of the tropics and naturally fertilized with water, which contains a complete
mixture of all of the trace minerals required by the human body. Unlike grains, coconuts are
also free of phytic acid- a common plant toxin that works as an anti-nutrient.

High protein and Healthy Fats:

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Coconut flour also contains a significant amount of protein, especially when compared to wheat
flour. A 100-gram serving of coconut flour has 19 grams of protein while wheat flour has just
10. Coconut flour also contains about 9 grams of healthy fats per 100 grams. Although these
fats are mostly saturated, they are a type called medium-chain triglycerides, which digest easily
and provide instant energy. Coconut protein component is majorly categorized into three
fractions namely albumins, globulins and glutelins. It is important to know that the amino acid
composition in each of these fractions differs. The amino acids composition of glutelins and
globulins are quite similar but the amino acids absolute value is higher in globulins than in
glutelins. Therefore, the globulin is the major fraction of coconut flour protein (Kwon, 1996).

Products to be consumed:

Noodles and Pasta Products:

Noodles and pasta products are majorly made from wheat flour (Nagao, 1996). However, many
studies have also reported the use of other flours in proportions to wheat flour (Devaraju et al.,
2006; Ayo and Nkama, 2003). According to Gunathilake and Abeyrathne (2009), the study
concluded that coconut flour added up to 20 % was not significantly different from noodles
made from 100 % wheat flour. However, following the partial substitution of wheat flour with
coconut flour in the production of noodles, the absence of gluten protein in coconut flour led to
the ease breakage of the noodles as compared to noodles produced from 100 % wheat flour.
Refined wheat is not an excellent source of dietary fiber. Therefore coconut flour can be
incorporated into wheat flour during noodles production in order to improve its fiber content
and confer important health benefits (Gunathilake and Yalegama, 2009).

Biscuits:

Upon substitution of wheat flour with coconut flour at high amount (50 %) in the production of
biscuits, there was decrease in the score for taste. This was attributed to the strong taste of
coconut which dominated the product. Furthermore, depending on consumer’s preference, the
texture of biscuit received a decreased score compared to biscuits without or lower amount of
coconut flour. Also, baked products supplemented with coconut flour became darker in colour

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due to the amino acids (lysine) and sugar (fructose) present in the flour contributing to Maillard
reaction during baking. However, 20 % for supplementation with coconut flour was found
acceptable (Gunathilake and Yalegama, 2009).

Porridge:

According to Usman and Okafor (2015), nutritious breakfast can be made from blends of locally
available products such as rice, soya beans and coconut flour. Through this, the low nutritional
quality of some cereals can be improved through supplementation with blends of coconut flour.

Conclusion:

To conclude, the above are some of the gluten-free flours and their nutritional components and
products which can be consumed or made from these flours. Cassava flour can be processed
into six groups of food products, that is traditional foods, cakes, crackers, noodles and cassava
meal. Cassava flour can also substitute for wheat and rice flours and the level of substitution
ranges from 20%-100%, depending on the product. Having shown that coconut flour is high in
fat, fibre and some amount of protein, it can also be used in place of wheat flour and other
gluten free flours to make products like biscuits, cakes among others.

Reference list:

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Roberfroid, M. (1997). Health benefits of non-digestible oligosaccharides. In D. Kritchevsky & C.
Bonfield (Eds.), Dietary fiber in health and disease. Eds. D. Kritchevsky, C. Bonfield. Advances in
experimental biology, Vol.427. New York: Plenum Press.

Arancon, R.N. (1999). Coconut flour. Cocoinfo International, 6(1), 1–8.

Hossain, S. (2016). Incorporation of coconut flour in plain cake and investigation of the effect of
sugar and baking powder on its baking quality. International Journal of Nutrition and Food
Sciences; 5(1):31.

Kwon, K., Park, K. H., and Rhee, K. C. (1996). Fractionation and characterization of proteins from
coconut (Cocos nucifera L.). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; 44(7): 1741- 1745.

Ayo J. A., and Nkama I. (2003). Effect of acha flour on the physiochemical and sensory quality of
biscuit. Nutrition and Food Science; 33 (3):125-130.

Devaraju B., Begum M. J., Begum S. and Vidhya K. (2006). Effect of temperature on physical
properties of pasta from finger millet composite flour. Journal of Food Science and Technology;
43(4):341–343.

Gunathilake, K. D. P. P, Yalegama C., Kumara,A.A.N. (2009). Use of coconut flour as a source of

protein and dietary fiber in wheat bread. Asian Journal of Food and Agro-Industry;2(3):382–
391.

Nagao, S. (1996) Processing technology of noodle products in japan. in: pasta and noodle
technology. Kruger J. E., Matsuo RB (Eds). American Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul,
MN, USA; 169-195.