Physical breakdown of bread and its impact on texture perception: A dynamic perspective

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the impact of bread structure and its dynamic transformation on people’s chewing behaviour and texture perception. Results from 20 trained panellists showed that bread crust/skin was the dominating factor in oral processing. This ‘outer layer’ introduced a mechanical contrast which increased chewing effort, lowered swallowing thresholds but did not elicit more a complex texture sensation. Furthermore, a single-panellist study was conducted as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate a new temporal correlation method. Progressive fragmentation and hydration diminished the differences between heterogeneous and homogeneous samples, leading to converged bolus properties and chewing effort. However, the differences in texture perception and chewing frequency due to the presence of the crust/skin were not diminished and even became larger throughout oral processing. Hence, chewing force and chewing rhythm might have different modulation mechanisms. Overall, bolus hydrated sensation was largely used by the panellist to gauge the swallowing point while bolus texture was used in a feedback control to regulate the mastication behaviour.