Influence of full fat rice bran from Ethiopian rice milling industries on nutritional qualities, physicochemical and sensory properties of bread and biscuits

Combining cheaper crop byproducts with main food ingredients is suitable for developing affordable food products for low-income consumers such as Ethiopia, where food security is a critical issue. Rice bran is one of the byproducts of rice milling and is an excellent source of macro and micronutrients for humans. This research investigated the effect of full fat rice bran flour on rheological properties of the composite flour dough, physicochemical and sensory properties of value added food products—bread and biscuits. In such a way, the study determined the optimum blend ratio of full fat rice bran and wheat flour for production of bread and biscuits with acceptable properties. Microwave stabilized full fat rice bran flour was mixed with commercial wheat flour at (5, 10, 15, and 20%) and (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30%) to develop bread and biscuits respectively. Rheological studies show that rice bran addition increased dough development time and degree of softening and reduced water absorption and stability time. The results of this study show that the proximate composition (crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and ash) and mineral contents (potassium (K), sodium (Na), calcium (ca.), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn)) of full fat rice bran flour is significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of wheat flour. This eventually resulted in a significant increase (P < 0.05) in these proximate composition and mineral contents as supplementation level of full fat rice bran flour increased in both bread and biscuits. It is also evidently clear from results of this study that full fat rice bran can be added to wheat flour up to 10% for bread and 20% for biscuits productions with acceptable physicochemical and sensory attributes.