N09026: Salt reduction in premium bread - Understanding the influence of physical and chemical properties on stickiness, collapse and open texture
Friday 14 March 2008
Background
Large scale bakers are finding it difficult to deliver further reductions in salt content because their processes become less robust at lower salt levels especially in premium quality bread. This results in sticky dough, the collapse of proved dough and open texture in the baked loaf. It is reported that while there are some remedial actions that can be taken, none is entirely satisfactory in solving the quality problems and achieving efficient bakery operation.
This project aims to define how salt level affects the stickiness, collapse and open texture of bread in the hope of resolving the quality issues.
Research Approach
Using doughs with varying levels of salt the project will use a number of chemical, biochemical and physical measures to assess changes in stickiness, matrix strength, stability of the proved dough and bread texture. The investigation will look specifically at the effect of salt on the amount of fluid associated with a particular phase in the dough preparation and measure the relationship of major and minor components between different dough phases. As a function of added salt content, time and temperature, the dough handling properties, susceptibility to collapse, bread texture and other bread properties will also be considered.
The findings will be used to predict how the major components of dough (starch, protein and lipid) respond to changes in salt level, and therefore what compensatory mechanisms are needed to improve the tolerance of bread with reduced salt content.