By Our Reporter
American Soybean Association (ASA) in partnership with Sesaco Uganda have skilled over 50 bakers in using Soy flour to make bread.
The bakers were taken through the nutritional and economic benefits of using soy flour in baking their products.
The training which was carried out at the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) in Kampala was themed ‘Soy Flour for the Modern Baker- Bake with Soy, East with Joy.”
The training was also part of the major activities under this year’s soy educational campaign targeted at bakers, suppliers, and consumers of soy enhanced products in Uganda.
Speaking at the training, Mr. Charles Nsubuga one of the supply chain partners for American Soybean Association advised bakers to mix both soy flour and wheat to balance the costs of production.
“Whilst prices of flours like wheat are high, this is such an important time for bakers to balance the equation, mixing both flours ‘soy and wheat’ to make products without increasing cost.” He said
Through his key note speech, Mr. Abdul-Nasser Alidu, the CEO of The Little Cow Consulting Limited operating in Ghana and Uganda emphasized the agenda of connecting trade and development across global market systems and improving food security for over 20 years. He said this can be done through various soy promotion campaigns in Africa, US, Asia, etc.
Asha Batenga Jumba, the Founder of Cakely Uganda and the Uganda Bakers’ Association informed that US Soy flour is not a new thing in the baking industry.
“It is widely used in many baked goods to not only boost nutritional value, but also to improve texture, moisture and shelf life’. ‘Soy flour is very high in protein, so bakers use it alongside wheat flour to improve the quality of their bread.” she explained.
The theory and practical approaches which were done by Mr. Abbas Rudolf highlighted the nutritious benefits of soy flour. Among others, Soy flour is good dietary source of protein, cholesterol free and low in fat and economic benefits such as better moisture, texture and taste and increased yield and shelf life.
He took bakers through theoretical and practical baking sessions where he demonstrated how to use soy flour in baking bread.
At the end of the session, additional loaves of bread were achieved, bread was also softer, had a better moisture, and trainees testified that it was better as compared to most of the bread available on market.
ASAWISHH and SESACO intend to host a second soy flour bakers’ training in Masaka district come August, 2022.
