Phenolic content, physical and sensory properties of breads made with different types of barley wort

BACKGROUND: Barley wort, an intermediate product of beer brewing, is rich in phenolic compounds. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of increasing the antioxidant content of bread by replacing water with three types of wort: two of them withdrawn at the end of the mashing operation during the production of a Pilsner and a Double Malt Pilsner beer respectively; the other collected at an intermediate stage of mashing of the Pilsner beer. The chemical, physical and sensory properties of the wort-added breads were compared with those of a control bread. RESULTS: All three worts led to increased phenolic content, volume and specific volume of the breads and induced significant changes in 11 of 23 sensory descriptors. The highest phenolic contents were detected in breads made either with the Pilsner wort withdrawn at an intermediate stage of mashing or with the Double Malt Pilsner wort. The former also gave the highest increase in volume and specific volume but significantly reduced the scores for crunchiness, firmness and cohesiveness. The latter led to lower increases in volume and specific volume, but less significant changes in the sensory properties were associated with its use. CONCLUSION: Worts can be conveniently used to increase the antioxidant content of bread. However, different types of wort can modify to different extents the physical and sensory properties of the product.