Development of a Semi-Automated Dough Mixer for the Preparation of African Dishes

Abstract

The manual preparation of some of the African traditional (dough foods) dishes from their respective flours require significant physical efforts and precise techniques to achieve the desired qualities, besides the fact that they are time demanding. The challenges justify some of the reasons for the dwindling in their demands for them, in spite of the societal values or air of respect acclaimed to them by the populace, consumers. To address these limitations, this research explored the development and performance evaluation of a 1.0 kg/h specialized dough mixer for preparing some of the Nigerian traditional delicacies from their respective flours. The machine, basically, comprises a water tank heater unit, prime mover (variable speed electric motor), lift dough mixing chamber, stirrer stanchion, and control system. Tests were carried out on the machine, with samples of garri, pupuru and semo flour, to evaluate its performance. The results revealed that the productivity of the machine varies with the kinds of delicacies to be prepared (rheological properties) The results revealed that attained optimal throughput capacity of 2.88, 2.75 and 4.45 kg/h when used to prepare semo, pupuru and eba from their respectively flours with mixing ratios of 2.87, 1.17 and 2.11, and productivity of the machine varies with the kinds of delicacies to be prepared (rheological properties) It can produce high-quality-lump-free-dough at reduced dough development time with minimum effort. It was concluded that the use of this machine, would effectively alleviate the challenges associated with the manual preparation of and enhance the demand for the traditional delicacies and foster preservation of the cultural heritage.