Evolution of biochemical and rheological characteristics and breadmaking quality during a multistage wheat sour dough process

Abstract

The evolution of some biochemical (acetic and lactic acid contents, fermentation quotient and changes in mono-, di-, and trisaccharides), rheological and fermentative characteristics (extensigram, maturogram and impulsogram) and bread quality (volume, density, texture, and degree of acidification) during a multistage wheat sour dough process have been investigated. Acetic acid contents of sour doughs (SD), bread doughs (BD) and breads (B) increased with the increase in number of processing stages. Lactic acid followed similar trends in SD, but in BD and B it reached maximum levels during the third stage. SD contained higher amounts of acids than BD and B. Dynamics of sugars followed patterns according to the fermentative activity and microflora evolution in the different steps. An improvement as the number of SD stages increased was observed in rheological and fermentative properties of BD, such as in oven spring. A positive effect on B characteristics (volume, density, texture, and acidity) was also observed. The last stage of the SD process led to the best final product, with noticable differences in relation to those occurring with a smaller number of stages.