Bread quality assessment

[Nutritional value]

Bread quality assessment

Bread is the staple food for humans. Bread in the presence of such substances as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals in it is a very valuable product in terms of nutritional value.

Nutritional value bread is determined by the properties of the ground products. It is known that the bran and the aleurone layer due to the presence of fiber are poorly absorbed by our body. Therefore, bread made from flour of higher grades, with less bran, will be better digested, and therefore, will be more useful for humans.

We have already seen that the quality of baked goods depends on many reasons. Basically, these reasons are the quality of flour, recipe, technological process and quality of baking powder (yeast, starter culture). The higher the grade of the products, the greater the requirements for their quality. For each type of product, depending on its specific features, certain quality requirements are imposed, detailed in GOSTs.

Assessment of products based on average samples is carried out by organoleptic and laboratory methods. Each type of product must have a good appearance, that is, an appropriate shape, surface and skin color. The condition of the crumb is of great importance. The crumb should be well baked, uniformly porous (no hardening), elastic and fresh (non-hard). The taste and smell are typical of this type of bread.

Humidity in baked goods is a very important indicator. High humidity in some products (crackers, gingerbread) causes rejects, since during storage, excess humidity contributes to the formation of mold. Depending on the type of product, the humidity can fluctuate within wide limits. Determination of moisture content is carried out in the crumb of bread (ordinary bread) or in whole products (crackers, gingerbread).

Porosity Bread expressed as a percentage indicates that the bread is loose. The better the digestibility of bread, the higher the porosity. The less bran in the flour, the larger the bread volume and the higher the porosity. In small-piece products, instead of porosity, volume and weight are determined, and then the specific gravity is calculated.2 Loose bread per unit volume is less by weight than dense bread. Consequently, the specific gravity in the first case will be lower than in the second.

Acidity is one of the most important indicators of the quality of bread. Unleavened bread is less tasty than sour bread, and its digestibility is lower. On the other hand, excessive acidity degrades the quality of the bread. The more bran in flour, the higher the acidity of normal bread made from this type of flour. So, for example, the acidity for wheat bread made from wallpaper is set to 6 °, and for the 1st grade at 4 °.

Taste bread, especially rye, is determined by the quality and quantity of acids. Unfortunately, with the usual determination of acidity, it is not possible to establish the ratio of the various acids present in bread.

Bread defects

The bakery products put out for sale must meet certain quality requirements, which we talked about above. However, baked bread sometimes has some defects.

Bread defects depend mainly on the following reasons: 1) the quality of the flour, 2) improper preparation and fermentation of the dough, 3) baking of bread and 4) improper storage of bread.

Of most common bread defects it is necessary to point out the following.

Thick and burnt crusts... The thickness of the crust depends solely on the baking of the bread. If the dough is placed in an oven that is too hot, it quickly forms a crust. The crumb is difficult to bake.In order not to get raw bread, it is necessary to increase the baking time, and this will burn the crusts. The low oven temperature also tends to increase the thickness of the crusts, resulting in longer baking times.

Undermining of the upper crust in tin bread caused by insufficient proofing of the dough. When baking hearth bread, for example French rolls, due to incomplete proofing of the dough, instead of a regular scallop, a torn top crust is obtained. This defect is exacerbated by "old" (sour) dough, which proves slower than normal dough in proofing.

Prints, side and end, are obtained as a result of the tight fit of the formed dough on the sheets and on the bottom of the oven, since the dough increases in volume during baking and individual products stick together, which disturbs the shape of the bread.

Emptiness in bread ("caves") often obtained with too much proofing of dough in molds, especially in rye bread. The dough, having reached the maximum (largest) volume, begins to sink. The upper part of the dough (crust) becomes hard and a gap occurs between the crust and crumb (a void is formed). If the dough is too weak, not sufficiently fermented, and especially in one made from malted flour, the most favorable conditions are created for the crust to break off from the crumb. "Caves" can be obtained from transplanting molds or by extending the hearth of the oven during baking, as a result of the shaking of the molds with the dough. At the same time, hardening of the bottom crust of the bread is formed from the compaction of the dough simultaneously with the "cave".

Temper... Often, especially in rye bread, at one of the crusts (more often at the bottom), and sometimes at both, a strip of unbaked bread remains in the form of a dense mass, called zakal.
Why is tempering obtained? The main reason is insufficient crumb looseness during dough fermentation and proofing. During the baking process, there is insufficient evaporation and binding of the water in the dough. Thick as well as weak dough, high oven temperatures and flour properties can cause hardening. In practice, there are cases when at bakeries baking rye bread, suddenly, within a few days or weeks, the bread begins to go with a temper. Considering that, in general, the technological process in factories cannot change so dramatically, the reason for hardening should be attributed to flour. This is confirmed by the works of D. Fornet (D. Fornet. The theory of practical baking and flour grinding. Gostorg Publishing House, 1930, p. 194.).

Storage conditions bread has a great influence on its quality, in particular on its tempering. When still hot and soft bread is stacked tightly on the racks, the crust is squeezed. Under these conditions, bread does not cool well, and quenching often forms, especially in areas where the crust has been squeezed.

For avoid temper it is necessary to give the dough a full proof and bake the bread well.

Nepromes is obtained from insufficiently thorough kneading of the dough, in which particles of unmixed flour remain.

"Young" dough gives bread with a small volume. The color of the crust is brighter, more reddish. On the surface of the crust, “bubbles” form, which turn into darker spots, and when the crust dries, it breaks easily.

"Old" dough gives bread with a pale crust and sour taste.

Imperfection occurs due to insufficient baking and fermentation time of the dough and with malted flour.

From the book of Plotnikov P.M., Kolesnikov M.F. - 350 varieties of bakery products - 1940