Use of expert estimate extrapolation method for selecting sourdough starter technological parameters

Abstract

The quality of rye bread and bread made of the mixture of rye and wheat flour is largely determined by biotechnological processes occurring during the ripening of the sourdough starter. The factors that allow regulation of this process are the parameters of the nutrient mixture and the starter technology. Among the latter, there is the dosage of malt in the nutrient mixture, the ratio of fermented sourdough and the nutrient mixture, its humidity. The use of the specific decision depends on the experience and professionalism of the technologist. At the same time, given the complexity and multifactorial nature of the problem to be solved, decision making is not always unequivocal and guarantees the stability of the quality characteristics of the starters. Under these conditions, the use of extrapolation methods for unclear expert estimates has been proposed. The essence of this method consists in extrapolating the decision, made based on limited sample by the decision maker (DM) as a result of pairwise comparison, to the entire set of alternatives, identifying the DM’s preferences and constructing a selection mechanism based on the information received. Testing the methods based on the results of the undertaken research allows us to conclude that the proposed methods are effective in solving the problem of choosing the optimal technological parameters for preparing liquid rye sourdough starter.