Effects of Acidification, Sodium Chloride, and Moisture Levels on Wheat Dough: II. Modeling of Bread Texture and Staling Kinetics

Abstract

The effect of three experimental factors pH (addition of lactic acid and sodium hydroxide), water, and sodium chloride (NaCl) addition on wheat bread making performance (volume, baking loss, crumb firmness, crumb grain features) and the crumb staling during storage was studied. The staling behavior was modeled with the Avrami equation and with linear regressions. All bread quality parameters were reliably modeled using response surface methodology (up to R 2 = 0.97). The crumb staling behavior was better described by a linear regression than by the rate constant k of the Avrami equation (R 2 = 0.87 / R 2 = 0.36). The highest volume can be achieved with the experimental values pH 5.39, 0.41 g NaCl 100 g−1 flour and 68.7 g water 100 g−1 flour. Correlation analysis revealed significant linear dependency of dough rheology (complex shear modulus) on the firmness of the bread crumb (r = 0.73) and staling attributes (r ≥ 0.73). Dough microstructural properties showed significant but low correlation with bread making performance attributes.