Effect of Different Cereals on the Quality of Masa

Abstract

The pearl millet and maize grains were dehulled, washed, dried and ground while the rice grain was ground using disc attrition grinder. The powdered grain is sieved to produce flour and grit which is added to boiling water and cooked before mixing with the raw flour in the of 1:2. The resulting batter is inoculated with baker`s yeast and allowed to ferment (14-16hrs), diluted with trona (kanwa water), salted, stirred vigorously to incorporate air, sized, fried in little oil (3mins on one side, then turned) to produce masa. The masa (rice, maze and millet based) were analysed for physical (thickness, volume, spread ratio), chemical (fat, moisture, ash, protein, carbohydrate) and sensory (colour, texture, taste, odour) qualities. The dimension of masa ranged from 8.40 to 8.97cm in diameter, 2.70 to 3.10cm thickness, 79 to 88.9g weight, 115.57 to130.35cm³ loaf volume and 1.30 to 1.67 loaf volume index. The proximate composition of the masa samples range from 7.59 to 9.21% for protein. 8.82 to 9.60% for fat, 1.8 to 2.1% ash, and 75.16 to 76.99% carbohydrate. The sensory quality means scores range from 5.27 to 8.4 for taste, 6.67 to 8.82 for texture, 5.60 to 7.87 for odour, 2.53 to 8.80 for colour, 6.27 to 8.67 for appearance and 5.27 to 8.67 for general acceptability. Generally maize based masa compare favourably with rice based which has been the commonly used cereal for the production.