5. Composite Flours in
Different Continents
The ingredients used in composite flours must take account of the raw
materials available in the country concerned. The objective is to save as much
expensive imported wheat as possible when making bakery products.
5.1. South America
In the late 1960s, tests were carried out in Brazil in which 75% wheat
flour was mixed with the relevant amounts of potato, maize or cassava flour.
The baking tests were conducted on the basis of the Chorleywood bread process.
The same flours were used as raw materials for biscuits, but the proportion of
wheat flour was reduced to 50%. There is no evidence that these experiments
have been put to practical use. A limiting factor is that the use of potassium
bromate for treating wheat flours is prohibited (Berghofer, 2000); however,
flour improvers containing enzymes are now available as an effective
substitute.
5.2. Africa
Most of the trials with composite flours have been carried out in this
continent because of Africa's continually growing population. Reports are
available from Senegal, Niger and Sudan (Berghofer, 2000). In the bread sector
the task here was to produce typical French bread with composite flour. The
proportion of wheat flour in the different mixtures varied greatly, the maximum
being 70%. Because of the difficulty of keeping bread fresh, a great many
experiments were carried with composite flours in biscuit production. Biscuits
keep longer, and it is no problem to bake them at a central facility and
transport them over long distances (Jongh, 1961). So far there are no reports
that bread and biscuits have been produced from composite flours to any
appreciable extent in an African country. In spite of the lower price, the
population is often disinclined to buy such bread because of its unfamiliar
flavour and its chewing properties, which differ from those of ordinary white
bread. Moreover, there are persistent rumours that many institutions profit
financially from imports of wheat, and this would not be the case if locally-grown
raw materials were used.
On 1 January 2005 Nigeria enacted a directive that makes the addition
of 10% cassava flour to wheat flour mandatory in order to support the local
cassava crop and reduce exports of hard currency. Unfortunately, cassava has
always been a staple food of the very poor. Since the local growers of cassava
roots can by no means satisfy the theoretical demand of the flour mills, at
least a temporary shortage with price increases is likely. Moreover, the
available cassava flour qualities differ greatly, for example in colour, taste
and cyanoglycoside content. So it is still not certain whether this initiative
will soon result in the long-term use of cassava flour in wheat flour.
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