Sugar molasses is concentrated liquid sy-rup which remains after repeated crystal-llizations during sugar refining process. It is a mixture of sugar, non-sugars and wa-ter from which it is impossible to crystallize sugar under any circumstances (Higgin-botham and McCarthy, 1998; Olbrich, 1963). Molasses contains high amounts of solids (»80%), of which around 50% is su-gar. Depending on origin, two kinds of mo-lasses can be distinguished: beet mola-sses and cane molasses. There are differ-rences in the chemical composition of the two molasses: beet molasses has more saccharose, very little invert, more non-sugar substances and ash (Higgin-botham and McCarthy, 1998; Olbrich, 1963). Unlike cane molasses, beet mola-sses contain rafinose and betaine.
Besides approximately 50% of saccha-rose, 1% rafinose and less than 1% invert sugar, beet molasses contains conside-rable amounts of important micronutrients such as minerals, proteins, vitamins, cho-line, glutamine acid, organic acids, pectin, etc. (Šušić and Sinobad, 1989). It is an appreciable source of potassium, calcium and iron. Sugar beet molasses also con-tains phenolic compounds (Maestro-Du-rán et al. 1996) although they have not been well documented. Phenolic substan-ces have been mostly associated to the antioxidative action of material (Mišan, 2010). Aqueous extracts of cane and beet can be used for manufacturing antioxi-dants for functional food products (Chou, 2003). Taken together, these results su-ggest that cane and beet sugar molasses contain various compounds with beneficial effects for health. Some nutritionists highly appreciate sugar molasses and reco-mmend its daily administration to protect health (Andrejević and Stevanović, 1967).
Sugar beet molasses is rarely used in hu-man consumption due to its astringent off-flavor and aroma, in contrast to cane mo-lasses. However, few researches showed that, at appropriate doses, sugar beet mo-lasses can be successfully incorporated to various food (bread and bakery products (Pribiš et al., 2008; Šimurina et al., 2006; Lević et al., 2005a,b), meat products (Svrzić et al., 2006)) without drastic impair-ment of sensory properties. It has been also shown that sugar beet molasses can be used as osmotic agent due to high con-tent of solids and liquid aggregate state (Filipčev et al., 2008; Lević et al., 2007; Filipčev et al., 2006). The use of molasses in processes of osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables potentially broadens the food applications of molasses. By its nature, fruits have great potential for use in bakery industry to improve the function-nal properties of products (Cvetković et al., 2009).
In this study, bread was enriched with sugar beet molasses or with fruit/vege-table ingredients obtained by osmotic de-hydration in molasses with the objective to assess various quality aspects of bread. Two types of osmodehydrated ingredients were used: a) pieces of fruits/vegetables obtained after osmotic dehydration as is; b) dried and grinded powders of osmo-tically dehydrated fruits/vegetables.

Ingredients used for breadmaking were standard and all from commercial source and included wheat flour type 500, refined granulated sugar, fresh compressed yeast, vegetable fat, salt, skimmed milk and bakery improver. Molasses (80% solids) was supplied from the sugar manufacture in Bač, Serbia. Apples (var. Idared), plums (var. Stanley), carrots and red cabbage uniform in size and quality were obtained from the local market.
Before osmotic dehydration, fruits and vegetables were washed and cleaned. Carrots were peeled while apples and plums were analyzed with their skin on. Apple and carrot samples were cut with a cork borer in a cylindrical shape of 20 mm diameter and 20 mm height. Samples of plums and cabbage were cut into cubes of approximately 1 cm. The fruit pieces were separately placed into molasses contained beakers and lightly weighted to keep them immersed. The ratio of fruit cubes and molasses was 1:4 by weight. The beakers were covered with a plate to reduce mois-ture loss and placed in thermostat at con-stant temrature 55 °C. The samples were taken out from the osmotic medium after 5 hours, rinsed and lightly blotted with tissue paper to remove excess molasess.
Breads were prepared according to stan-dard procedure under laboratory condi-tions as described in (Filipčev et al., 2010). The effect of ingredients was studied at two doses: lower (5% flour basis for pow-dered forms and pure molasses i.e. 10% flour basis for non-powdered ingredients) and higher doses (10% flour basis for powdered forms and pure molasses i.e. 30% flour basis for non-powdered ingre-dients). Bread variants enriched with os-motically dehydrated fruits/vegetables were compared with a control sample (white bread) and bread with added mo-lasses. Breads were analyzed for chemical composition, antioxidative potential, textu-ral properties and sensory quality.

The addition of molasses and OD ingre-dients significantly affected the mineral content of enriched breads (Table 1).

Values given in italics represent means obtained at higher levels of ingredient doses.

As compared to the control, the contents of potassium, magnesium and calcium were increased, of which the most promi-nent increase was observed regarding the potassium content. Sodium content did not significantly vary in comparison to the con-trol but it tended to be lower in breads with fruit ingredients and higher in breads with vegetable ingredients.
In graham breads, K and Ca levels range from 250-300 mg/100 g and 25-30 mg/100 g, respectively (Biró and Lindner, 1988). Potassium and calcium levels observed here (255.0-555.0 mg/100 g d.b. for K and 36.03-50.54 mg/100 g d.b. for Ca) revea-led that, by supplementing white bread with molasses and OD ingredients pre-treated in molasses in powdered or non-powdered form, the content of these mi-nerals reaches or exceeds the levels found in graham breads which undoub-tedly confirm the value-adding potential of molasses-based ingredients in bakery products. Moreover, dietary intake of pota-ssium has been recently indicated as a public health concern for the general pu-blic in the policy document released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Servi-ces (2010) because the intake of pota-ssium by Americans is much lower than recommended which additionally support the nutritive potential of the tested ingre-dients.

In this study, the breads made with various molasses-based ingredients were tested for the antioxidant content using DPPH, a stable radical, as the detection agent. The addition of molasses and molasses-based ingredients significantly increased the anti-oxidative activities in the breads depen-ding on the type of ingredients used and the supplementation level. In the case of non-powdered ingredients, antioxidant po-tential was raised by 10.4% (in bread with 10% OD carrot) and by 54.8% (in bread with 30% OD plum) in comparison with white bread control. The highest increase (82%) in the antioxidative potential was measured in the bread enriched with 10% powdered OD plum. High increase figures were determined for some other bread variants; such as variant with 5% pow-dered OD plum and 10% powdered OD cabbage and apple with increase figures of 60-67% in comparison with control. The addition of molasses also significantly increased antioxidantive potential which was increased by 24.2% and 42.6% for lower and higher applied dose, respectti-vely.
Such effect is presumably due to natural presence of compounds with high antioxi-dative potency in ingredients. Plums, red cabbage and apples are rich sources of such bioactive compounds. Molasses also contain substances with high antioxidative potential which partly originate from sugar beet and partly are generated in the sugar manufacturing process (melanoidines, su-gar anhydrides, etc.).
Sensory and textural properties of enriched breads
In bread variants with non-powdered in-gredients, specific volume of bread de-creased only at higher doses whereas powdered ingredients at all applied doses significantly reduced specific volume in comparison to white control bread.The addition of ingredients in powdered
form significantly increased bread crumb firmness in comparison to the control (Fi-gure 1). This increase was most prominent at higher level of supplementation. In the case of non-powdered ingredients, firm-ness increase was less prominent; the ma-jority of bread variants had similar firm-ness to that of the control whereas bread with 30% cabbage was significantly softer presumably due to high fiber content in cabbage. The highest firmness increase was measured for the bread with 10% mo-lasses, 10% powdered OD apple and 30% non-powdered OD plum.

Breads with higher firmness had signify-cantly lower crumb elasticity but in the case of bread with non-powdered ingre-dients the elastic-city of all variants did not significantly vary from the control.
Sensory evaluation showed differences between the samples. Powdered ingre-dients increased markedly crust and crumb color of the breads. Aroma profile was markedly altered in comparison to the typical fermented wheat dough aroma of the control bread especially in the samples made with the powdered ingredients; aro-ma on fruit/vegetable and caramel pre-vailed. Higher doses of powdered ingre-dients caused the presence of slightly burnt aftertaste which was especially cha-racteristic for the samples made with OD plum powder. Similar aroma profile was registered in the samples made with OD fruit pieces but characterized with lower intensity and absence of burnt sensation. None of the bread variants were dis-qualified which means that taste and aro-ma of the breads were acceptable. Bread variants with fruit-based ingredients were scored higher for overall acceptability in comparison to those with vegetables.

This study demonstrated the value-adding potential of molasses and molasses based ingredients in preparation of bread. Their incorporation into standard wheat bread formulation produced considerable effect on physicochemical and sensory proper-ties. Sugar beet molasses based ingre-dients significantly contributed to increa-sed antioxidative potential and enhanced content of minerals (especially K and Ca) matching those of graham breads. Crumb and crust color of breads were darker and aroma was altered. Specific volume and textural properties of bread were impaired but to statistically significant extent only in the case of higher supplementation levels. Yet, the panelists did not found any of the bread variants unacceptable although bread variants with fruit-based ingredients were more preferred.

Here are presented the essential points of the dissertation released as a part of the research within the project TR-20112, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ljubinko Lević and support of the Ministry of Scie-nce and Technological Development, Re-public of Serbia.