Prepared Foods R&D Seminar presenters help bakers address clean label and finished quality concerns
Key freshness attributes in bread include volume, size, shape, crust crispness, crumb softness and moistness, and flavor. Bread contains flour, sugar, salt, oil, yeast and water. Dough improvers, shortening, milk, eggs, flavoring and coloring ingredients are optional. During the bread-making process, physical and chemical changes occur from mixing, fermentation and baking.
“While bread is baking, physical changes, such as film formation, gas expansion (oven rise) and evaporation of moisture occur. Chemical changes happening in the oven are yeast activity, starch gelatinization, gluten coagulation, enzyme activity, sugar caramelization and browning reaction,” explained Lariza Lopez de Leon, R&D specialist, Caldic Canada, in her Prepared Foods R&D Seminar presentation titled “Clean Ideas to Stay Fresh in Bread and Cake Applications.”