DisplayTitle

Processing rice is an opportunity to add value to African rice that fails to compete with imported rice due to its poor grain quality. Ablo is a traditional steamed-cooked bread-like product of West-Africa (Benin/Togo/Ghana); it is prepared from imported rice and its quality largely varies due to the large diversity in the traditional process. We studied and developed a flow-sheet for processing Ablo from local rice. The most critical steps in the process appear to be the pre-cooking and fermentation steps. An increase of the gelatinization level during pre-cooking, increases the expansion during the fermentation (proofing) but decreases the final volume of Ablo. This appears linked to the texture of the fermenting dough; a high gelatinization level increased the viscosity and elasticity of the dough and hence its gas retention ability during fermentation but inhibits the expansion during steaming. Expansion of the dough indeed stops rapidly during steaming when starch gelatinizes and dough firmness increases. An optimum gelatinization level close to 6-7% is thus recommended. In addition, it has been shown that pre-cooking on fire is preferable in place of pre-cooking out of fire. It indeed induces a complete gelatinization of starch whatever the rice cultivars and their gelatinization temperature. An increase of the intensity of the fermentation (increase of the duration and/or of the yeast level) induces a decrease of the viscosity of the dough and of the density of Ablo. As for pre-cooking, the lower the viscosity of the dough, the higher was the expansion of the Ablo. Finally, the cultivars with high amylose content should be preferred for processing Ablo; the obtained Ablo has indeed higher final expansion and porosity and higher firmness.