Food & Beverage Asia December 2020/January 2021

SIFST Technical Article
Figure 2: Physical appearance of sugarcane enriched white bread with 0, 5, 10 and 15% (w/w flour basis) sugarcane fibre addition, from left to right
response and many others, the unprocessed lignocellulose
materials in sugarcane fibre were reported to cause problems
when formulating into baked goods as they do not soften or
incorporate well with the dough or batter due to their poor
hydration properties. As a result, many negative implications,
such as the loss of baked volume and undesirable mouthfeel such
as dry and gritty texture, were typically observed (Wee & Henry,
2020; Sangnark & Noomhorm, 2004; Sangnark & Noomhorm,
2003). Evidently, these implications were observed to be more
prominent with increasing concentrations of sugarcane fibres
added into the bread formulation of 0, 5,10 and 15% (w/w flour
basis), respectively, as shown in Figure 2. However, hydration
properties of sugarcane fibres can be improved through the
treatment of alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) and stirring.
Furthermore, modifications to the white bread formulation, which
include the addition of other food additives such as sucrose
ester and gums as well as substitution of high protein flour, could
potentially improve the dough rheological properties and quality
of sugarcane fibre enriched bread.
ALKALINE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE PRE-TREATMENT OF
SUGARCANE FIBRE
As reviewed by Niju & Swathika (2019), alkaline hydrogen
peroxide (AHP) pre-treatment was found to be the most effective
process for delignification of lignocellulosic materials. Due to its
oxidative action, ester linkages of the lignin present in the cell wall
are cleaved, resulting in less sugar degradation and increased
digestibility with negligible formation of secondary products
(Gould et al., 1989).
The effects of AHP treatment on sugarcane fibre were investigated
by a number of previous studies. Mdletshe (2019), reported
that untreated sugarcane fibre showed sheets of clustered
fibres whereas the structures of the treated sugarcane fibre
were strongly damaged because of the pre-treatment, resulting
in modifications to the surface and consequently, dissolving
the hemicelluloses that surrounded the cellulose skeleton
(Arsène et al., 2017). Moreover, after AHP treatment, there is
also a possibility that the sugarcane fibres might completely be
unattached into individual fibres (Rezende et al., 2011).
CONCLUSION
White bread, a type of staple food, is considered and classified
to be a relatively high GI food, of >70, due to the various
processing on the raw material, including high RDS content of
white wheat flour, dough formation as well as baking process of
bread. Undoubtedly, there is a need of solutions to reduce GI
of white bread. One effective approach to reduce the glycaemic
response of white bread would be the addition of sugarcane fibre
in bread applications owing to their ability to bind and interact
with α-amylase, and thereby reducing the hydrolysis of starch.
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA DECEMBER 2020 / JANUARY 2021