Ageing is an inevitable part of life.
We all know what ageing means – wrinkles start showing up, elasticity gone, shape uniformity goes and moisture retention in the wrong places result in bloating, infections and all things showing the nearness to expiry.
Same goes for frozen breads!
During frozen storage, the cold temperature decreases gluten cross-linking and changed the water binding capacity of sugar, starch protein and other dough constituents resulting in gradual LOSS OF DOUGH STRENGTH.
In a study (published 2013) to see how frozen breads with just virgin coconut oil or shortening only fare versus a mix of dough with added improvers including Ryoto emulsifiers from Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, the results are as apparent as comparing 2 old folks, of which one had undergone aesthetic care regularly (picture of ageing human is just for illustration purpose).
The technical jargon for frozen dough’s key parameters in “ageing” monitoring can be aplenty – let’s look at what it means to improve on these parameters in the frozen bakery world!
1⃣ Mixing Stability
High stability can give an advantage of replacing a portion of flour to manage increased raw ingredient costs.
By adding sugar esters of fatty acids (Ryoto Sugar Esters), frozen bakes can improve on shelf-life, have increased volume with finer cake crumbs and softer textures.
2⃣ Specific Volume
Ryoto sugar esters stabilize the hydrocolloid chains creating a temporary network with the starch and sugar components when the temperature rises during baking, leading to some strength of the dough during expansion and to protect against volume loss.
Ryoto Sugar Esters can improve the volume and softness in cakes and breads by protecting the air bubbles from collapsing during creaming, attract moisture and retain it by securing the starch and sugar bonds during heating.
3⃣ Hardness
As moisture shifts and gets lost over time, addition of Ryoto Sugar Esters has shown reduced hardness with maintenance of soft crumb structure.
Adding high-quality emulsifiers of Ryoto Sugar Esters can improve the bread’s textures and make it less hard. Overall, in any frozen biscuit or cake, sugar esters can maintain the volume and produce confectionery that stays smooth even after having being subjected to freezing temperatures for months.
4⃣ Dynamic Rheological Properties of Frozen Dough
Addition of Ryoto Sugar Ester improved the baking and rheological properties of frozen dough and decreased yeast damage by increasing the amount of non-frozen water in the wheat starch, which acts as a cryoprotectant for yeast cells.
Use Ryoto Sugar Esters to achieve consistent taste, textures, visual quality of your new frozen range of bakes without the need for preservatives.
5⃣ Sensory Evaluation
Flavor, volume and softness acceptance of bread is tested ( eg. 90 days post-freeze). Highest scores were achieved when 1.5% of Ryoto emulsifiers were added.
6⃣ Microstructure of Frozen Bread
Starch granules of this dough formulation were embedded in gluten structure compared to frozen dough containing with shortening, indicating that Ryoto emulsifier evenly distributed the fat phase.
😅 That’s about it!
Hope this gives you a new insight into the art of reversed ageing in a piece of frozen bread!
We welcome you to tag us in all your frozen food experiences!