Bread improvers are used to enhance key attributes of bread quality that, in turn, affect consumer preference and acceptability. They are used to counterbalance the deficiencies of weak soft flours, while the effects of their addition to strength flours are controversial. For this reason, this study investigated the effects of adding gluten (replacing 2% of flour, w/w), lecithin (1% of flour, w/w), xylanase (0.01% of flour, w/w), ascorbic acid (0.02% of flour, w/w), and combinations of lecithin (1% of flour, w/w) with gluten (1% of flour, w/w) or ascorbic acid (0.02% of flour, w/w) on the quality of Manitoba flour breads. Xylanase gave bread with the darkest colour (L* values of 52.5 and 59.3 for crust and crumb, respectively), the highest total phenolic content (TPC, 140.5 mg gallic acid/100 g dm) and quantity of crust (41.4%), as well as the lowest specific volume (1.98 mL/g) and overall sensory quality (6.0). The crumb pores of bread produced with xylanase had a shape closer to a perfect circle than the other types. Ascorbic acid allowed obtaining breads with the highest volume (2.78 mL/g), crumb cohesiveness (8.5), stickiness (1.5), and similar TPC (137.9 mg gallic acid/100 g dm) as the bred with the addition of xylanase. The control breads and those produced with combinations of lecithin and ascorbic acid exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity. The use of improver combinations almost never exerted synergistic effects on bread quality. Only the antioxidant capacity of these breads was higher than that of the samples in which the improvers were used alone. The overall sensory quality was significantly, positively correlated with specific volume, malty and freshly baked bread aroma with correlation coefficients above 0.8. According to the experimental data, the best improvers that can be conveniently added to a strong flour are those that influence the bread structural characteristics (increasing its volume and alveolation). Due to the positive relationship between the overall sensory quality and structural properties, the choice of an improver to be added to a strong flour in baking should fall on those addi- tives that improve variables such as volume and alveolation.
Consequences of the addition of bread making improvers to strong flour-based formulations
Antonietta Baiano
;
2026-01-01
Abstract
Bread improvers are used to enhance key attributes of bread quality that, in turn, affect consumer preference and acceptability. They are used to counterbalance the deficiencies of weak soft flours, while the effects of their addition to strength flours are controversial. For this reason, this study investigated the effects of adding gluten (replacing 2% of flour, w/w), lecithin (1% of flour, w/w), xylanase (0.01% of flour, w/w), ascorbic acid (0.02% of flour, w/w), and combinations of lecithin (1% of flour, w/w) with gluten (1% of flour, w/w) or ascorbic acid (0.02% of flour, w/w) on the quality of Manitoba flour breads. Xylanase gave bread with the darkest colour (L* values of 52.5 and 59.3 for crust and crumb, respectively), the highest total phenolic content (TPC, 140.5 mg gallic acid/100 g dm) and quantity of crust (41.4%), as well as the lowest specific volume (1.98 mL/g) and overall sensory quality (6.0). The crumb pores of bread produced with xylanase had a shape closer to a perfect circle than the other types. Ascorbic acid allowed obtaining breads with the highest volume (2.78 mL/g), crumb cohesiveness (8.5), stickiness (1.5), and similar TPC (137.9 mg gallic acid/100 g dm) as the bred with the addition of xylanase. The control breads and those produced with combinations of lecithin and ascorbic acid exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity. The use of improver combinations almost never exerted synergistic effects on bread quality. Only the antioxidant capacity of these breads was higher than that of the samples in which the improvers were used alone. The overall sensory quality was significantly, positively correlated with specific volume, malty and freshly baked bread aroma with correlation coefficients above 0.8. According to the experimental data, the best improvers that can be conveniently added to a strong flour are those that influence the bread structural characteristics (increasing its volume and alveolation). Due to the positive relationship between the overall sensory quality and structural properties, the choice of an improver to be added to a strong flour in baking should fall on those addi- tives that improve variables such as volume and alveolation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
