Bread, making

Sodium propionate is also often used as an antifungal agent. Calcium is often preferable to sodium, both to reduce sodium levels in the diet and because calcium ions are necessary for the enzyme a-amylase to act on the starches in bread, making them available for the yeast, and improving the texture of the bread. Stale bread is caused by the starch amylose recrystallizing. The enzyme a-amylase converts some of this starch to sugars, which helps prevent recrystallization. 

The effect of X -rich ground husks form the seeds of Plantago ovata (is-abgol) on the bread-making properties of various flours was studied with... 

A great deal of effort has been made to investigate the role of xylans in bread making. Reviews on cereal xylans [39,41,118] have shown that the xylan component is primarily responsible for the effects on the mechanical properties of the dough as well as the texture and other end-product quality characteristics of baked products. 

Phloem is a common term used to describe the inner layer of the pine tree. As already mentioned phloem powder was used to compensate for the shortage of flour in bread-making during times of famine in Finland and other Nordic... 

Levels of the enzyme a-amylase in wheat grains also affect breadmaking quality. Flour for bread-making requires low levels of a-amylase and this is favoured by a dry ripe dormant grain. The Falling Number (Hagberg) Test is used to determine a-amylase levels. A... 

They do differ in one respect from their filamentous siblings in that they are able to metabolise certain carbohydrates (sugars) by a process known as fermentation. During this, of course, they produce alcohol and gas (carbon dioxide) and for that reason they are used in brewing, bread making and other useful processes. 

It appears that dried gluten produced from English non-bread making flour is just as good as gluten produced from the best quality Canadian flour. Unsurprisingly, dried gluten is normally made from the cheapest possible source. 

Wheat is the major source grain for bakery ingredients. The cultivation of wheat is the basis of western civilisation. Botanically wheat is a member of the grass family (Grammacidae). Bread making depends on the proteins in wheat. 

While malt flour is not suitable for bread making it is added to wheat flour in small quantities to feed the yeast, open out the texture and improve the flavour. This practice has declined in recent years for several reasons. When British bread flour was mainly made from Canadian wheat with a Hagberg Falling Number of around 600 the addition of... 

Rye, like wheat, has bread making potential and rye dough can develop however, rye bread does not have the potential for expansion that wheat bread does. 

Maize has some potential as a bread making ingredient and is so used in the places where it is grown. Presently, maize is not a viable grain crop in Europe owing to the climate. 

The bread making properties of ordinary white bread flour improve for some time after manufacture, which is the origin of oxidative flour treatments. The shelf life of such a flour is around a year. If the moisture content can be kept low, either by selecting low moisture wheat or by drying wheat, the shelf life can be increased to three years. This sort of flour is supplied for ship s stores and similar purposes. This is the modern alternative to ship s biscuits. 

In a year when there has been rain during harvest, causing wheat to sprout, the falling number becomes very important. An example of such a year was 1987, when rain in East Anglia meant that the winter wheat in that area was largely unfit for bread making. In contrast the spring... 

NABIM group 2 varieties are used to make bread and baking flours. Most of these varieties have bread-making potential. 

This test, which has been adapted as BS 4317 AACC 151 and ICC 56-70, is used to determine the bread-making quality of wheat or flour. It is really an acceptance test for a flour mill rather than one for the bakery laboratory. 

Dough development is a fundamental process in bread making, without it there is just a paste of flour, water and the other ingredients. If the bread is to expand and form a proper cell structure then this change must take place. While it is quite easy to test for dough development by prodding some dough with a thumb it is more complicated at a chemical level. 

Curiously, while a biochemical revolution has taken place in other fields, bread making (which has to be the oldest biochemical process known to man) has been converted from a biochemical process into a chemical and mechanical process. 

West Indian bread making, in contrast, was presumably developed to cope with high ambient temperatures when mechanical refrigeration was not available. Attempts to use the sort of bulk fermentation used in the UK would cause problems because of the high dough temperature. 

Unlike other industries, bread making is moving away from continuous bread making processes and towards batch processing. Continuous processing never has the advantages in the food industry that it has in the chemical industry. 

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