Pão de forma elaborado com adição de shimeji preto (Pleurotus ostreatus) para avaliação sensorial

Abstract

Given the nutritional deficiencies in the global diet, the demand for bread, a widely consumed staple food, to be enriched has grown, also driven by awareness of healthy living. In this context, mushrooms, recognized as functional foods, have been gaining ground in baking due to their nutritional properties and health benefits, such as the presence of bioactive compounds and essential amino acids, and their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and cholesterol-lowering properties. To evaluate the acceptance and sensory quality of these new products, sensory analysis plays an essential role in the development and consolidation of innovations in the bakery market. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the sensory acceptability of loaf bread with the addition of edible black shimeji mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). In this scenario, three types of loaf bread were prepared: a control formulation, without the addition of mushroom flour (C); a formulation with a 10% substitution of wheat flour with conventional oven-dried mushroom flour (FE); formulation with a 10% substitution with freeze-dried mushroom flour (FL). The percentages of the ingredients were based on the total wheat flour contente in the dough. The breads were evaluated for their technological characteristics of specific volume, firmness, color and water activity, as well as microbiological and sensory analyses. The breads formulated with partial substitution of mushroom flour showed higher firmness values (FE: 1293.86±50.08; FL: 1857.67±10.78) and lower specific volume values (FE: 2.10±0.08; FL: 1.92±0.03) compared to the control sample (Firmness: 601.07±8.12; Specific volume: 3.45±0.06), at a significance level of 5%, with the FL formulation showing the highest firmness and the lowest specific volume among the three. Regarding the color of the breads, it was found that the mushroom-enriched breads exhibited darkening and an intensified reddish hue compared to the control sample. Furthermore, a decrease in water activity was observed in the samples containing mushroom flour in relation to the control sample. All formulations met the microbiological requirements established by current legislation. Sensory acceptance was evaluated by 120 untrained tasters, mostly female, between 18 and 25 years old, with incomplete higher education and family income between 2 and 5 minimum wages. The acceptance test was applied using a 9-point hedonic scale to evaluate the attributes of appearance, flavor, texture, aroma and overall impression, while purchase intention was measured using a 5-point scale. The results indicated that there was sensory similarity between the FE and FL samples (p>0.05), indicating that the drying method did not influence the acceptance of the sensory attributes of breads containing black shimeji flour. Sample C differed significantly (p≤0.05) from all formulations and was considered the most sensorially accepted, although the samples containing mushroom flour (FE and FL) also presented satisfactory sensory acceptability, considering that all attributes scored above “slightly liked” on the hedonic scale. Purchase intention scores were 4.26 (C), 3.24 (FL) and 3.17 (FE). Therefore, both drying methods studied are viable for producing black shimeji mushroom flour for enriching baked products such as bread, as they did not present significant differences between them, despite sensory changes compared to the control sample. These results reflect the familiarity and preference for the control bread, which represents a more commonly consumed standard among the evaluators.