Abstract
This study focused on the functional properties of bread incorporated with spearmint (
S
) aqueous extract (
S
1 = 0% (control),
S
2 = 2.5%,
S
3 = 5.0% and
S
4 = 7.5%) by measuring total phenolic content (TPC), DPPH radical scavenging activity, and ferrous-ion chelating (FIC) ability. Additionally, spearmint bread samples were compared with commercially available bread, including Roti Canai, White Bread (WB), Wheat germ bread (WG), Wholemeal bread (WM). Sensory evaluation was also investigated for spearmint bread samples. The presence of different concentrations of spearmint aqueous extract increased (
p
< 0.05) TPC, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and FIC ability of bread compared to
S
1 and all spearmint bread samples presented concentration-dependent. The addition of spearmint aqueous extract (5.0% and 7.5%) showed an almost twofold increase in DPPH radical scavenging activity compared to
S
1 (55 ± 0.3%). DPPH radical scavenging activity of
S
3 and
S
4 bread was higher (
p
< 0.05) than commercially available bread (WM and WG) whereas
S
2 bread had significantly higher DPPH inhibition activity than WB. However, both TPC and FIC ability of spearmint-containing bread samples were lower (
p
< 0.05) with that of commercially available bread. The spearmint bread (
S
2) showed the highest organoleptic properties among spearmint bread. In conclusion, spearmint is a promising food additive to increase antioxidant content in bread.