Starter cultures as substitutes for bread additives

A natural approach to avoid the use of additives in bread products may be reached by returning to the sour dough process using starter cultures. The use of selected strains with production of specific enzymes is the basis for production of the enzymes and dough conditioners directly in the sour dough. At present, two groups of enzymes are of particular interest in this respect amylases and proteases. 

The use of lactic acid bacteria producing thermostable amylases has a potential for the natural inhibition of staling. 

2 Protease production. Often the question of the proteolytic activity of sour dough cultures is raised (Collar et al., 1990). Baking trials at our laboratory using high-proteolytic cultures did not significantly change the volume or structure of the bread compared with low-proteolytic cultures. 

Our experiments further show that, in regular Danish wheat flour, a maximum of 1% of the total protease enzyme present in the sour dough system can be related to the starter culture, while 99% can be related to the flour. 

From a technological point of view, the starter cultures change the machinability of the dough in a positive way. The dough becomes less sticky and easier to handle in the bakery equipment furthermore, the 

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