Assessment of instrumental and sensory quality characteristics of the bread products enriched with Kombucha tea

Kombucha tea, which is one of the popular probiotic beverage, have been increasingly consumed in recent years due to its nutritional value and many health benefits. It is prepared mainly from the fermentation of different type of tea leaves with kombucha yeast in suitable conditions. This study aimed to develop newly formulated bread products from kombucha tea, that were fermented from black and green tea leaves, and to compare with the bread from the classical recipe based on some instrumental and sensory quality characteristics. Results showed that breads enriched with both type of kombucha tea had higher specific volume (mL/g), more pore ratio, lower moisture content and higher mineral (ash) content than the control bread. Color parameters were found different in the bread with kombucha fermented from black tea because of the dark color formed by browning reactions of phenolic compounds in the black tea. Both type of kombucha tea affected the textural characteristics (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess and resilience) of the breads, i.e. higher hardness and less elasticity were obtained. Adding kombucha tea greatly enhanced the total phenolic content of the crumb (by 31.5–37.3%) and the crust (by 54.3–60.3%) in breads. Antioxidant activities evaluated by ABTS⁺ and DPPH methods exhibited that bread products with significantly higher radical scavenging property were produced in the crumb and crust of the newly formulated breads. From a sensory point of view, all bread products were described, both kombucha breads had slightly brown color, sour taste and hard texture. They were correlated with the instrumental results. Bread enriched with kombucha fermented from black tea was liked and preferred as the best one by panelists. In future, these alternative breads enriched with kombucha tea have potential as a new healthy and functional product to be explored by the bakery industry.