evaluation of physicochemical, textural, and sensory properties of taftoon bread enriched with saffron

The use of functional additives in bread is a suitable method for improving product quality. one such additive is saffron. the objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical, textural, sensory properties, and shelf life of taftoon bread enriched with saffron extract microencapsulated using the double emulsion method. in this study, taftoon bread was enriched with saffron extract microencapsulated via the double emulsion method. the antioxidant properties, total phenol content, peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid value, volume, texture, color, and sensory properties of the bread was measured and compared to that of bread containing free saffron extract and the control sample during 48 hours of storage. the results indicated that the sample containing microencapsulated saffron extract had the highest amounts of total phenol (17.077 mg gae/g) and antioxidant compounds (78.647%), as well as the lowest peroxide value (0.118 meq/kg) and thiobarbituric acid value (0.716 mg mda/kg) upon baking, showing a significant (p≤ 0.05) difference from the other samples. as the firmness of bread crumb is inversely proportional to its specific volume, the sample containing microencapsulated saffron extract showed the highest firmness (723.05 g/cm²) and the lowest specific volume (1.293 cm³/g) during 48 hours of storage. the crust color measurements revealed that the l* value of the taftoon bread sample enriched with microencapsulated saffron extract decreased significantly (p≤ 0.05), while the a* and b* values increased. the results of the sensory evaluation showed that the samples containing saffron extract (both free and microencapsulated) received slightly higher scores than the control sample, though the differences were not statistically significant. overall, the microencapsulated saffron extract enhanced the antioxidant properties of taftoon bread, leading to a higher-quality product.