Partial replacement of sodium chloride by potassium chloride in the formulation of French bread: effect on the physical, physicochemical and sensory parameters

Abstract This study aimed to the replacement of sodium chloride (0.4 to 1.6%) by potassium chloride (0.2 to 0.8%) in French bread formulation and evaluate its effect on physical, physicochemical and sensory characteristics. For the preparation of bread was used a factorial design 22 with 4 factorial points and 3 central points, totaling 7 experiments. The physical and physicochemical parameters analyzed were: specific volume, moisture, color of the peel and crumb, pH, acidity and texture profile, sodium and potassium. The sensory evaluation of bread was performed using quantitative descriptive analysis, with 12 sensory terminologies. Response variables of salty taste and sensory chewiness generated statistically significant models. The results indicated optimal ranges of 0.2 to 0.5% of potassium chloride, and 1.0 to 1.6% for sodium chloride, and proved the technical feasibility of producing French bread with 50% salt reduction (174.09 mg.50 g–1), compared to a standard formulation of 1.88% (306.5 mg.50g-1) salt, corresponding to the prognosis recommended by the National Health Surveillance Agency.