The specific impact of wheat flour biopolymers on bread properties.

In this project, the impact of changes in the starch and gluten fractions alone on water distribution and texture of bread crumb are studied to understand the relative importance of both biopolymer systems for crumb firming. To achieve this, a useful technique for studying molecular mobility of water and biopolymers during heating and storage of food systems, namely proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR), is used. In addition, a simplified baking process is used in which baking occurs with an Electrical Resistance Oven (ERO) instead of a classical oven. ERO baking involves little temperature gradients and the resultant bread has no crust. Since heating is gradientless, temperature dependent reactions during baking occur uniformly in dough/bread. In a first part, bread loaves will be baked with an ERO in which the time-temperature profile applied to the dough is comparable to that in the center of conventionally baked bread. In a second part, changes in the starch and gluten systems are induced by using specific additives such as amylases and redox agents, respectively. This way, the separate impact of the extent of starch gelatinization and gluten polymerization on initial bread crumb texture and water distribution and/or changes thereof during storage can be studied.

Keywords:Redox agents, Electrical Resistance Oven, Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Amylases, Bread firming, Gluten polymerization, Starch gelatinization

Disciplines:Microbiology, Systems biology, Laboratory medicine