Problem: Bakery products are small and easily aged. 

Solution: Usually, some food additives with enhanced anti-aging ability of bread are added to the bread formula, including enzyme preparations, emulsifiers, hydrophilic colloids and antioxidants, among which enzyme preparations and emulsifiers are more widely used.

Enzyme

Protein with catalytic function extracted from plants, animals or microorganisms, and a class of biological products obtained after purification and processing are called enzyme preparations. The advantages of enzyme preparation include rich variety and function, remarkable effect, specific recognition of substrate, etc.

Glucose Oxidase

The addition of glucose oxidase to bread can improve the shape and texture of bread, improve the flavor and softness of bread, but too much addition will make the core of bread sticky. The addition of glucose oxidase can increase the volume of bread, and with the increase of the addition amount; When the addition amount reaches 6 mg/kg, the volume does not increase.

α-amylase

The addition of α-amylase can improve the gloss of the bread surface, improve the color, smoothness, texture structure, softness and taste of the bread core, but excessive addition will reduce the smoothness of the bread and affect the shape of the bread. α-amylase has anti-aging properties, and the aging rate of bread with α-amylase placed for a period of time is slower than that of bread without α-amylase.

The addition of α-amylase can increase the volume of bread and improve the rapid expansion of bread in the oven, but excessive addition can not easily control the fermentation time, resulting in the reduction of the volume of bread and the increase of cost. The optimal supplemental level of α-amylase was 7 mg/kg.

Protease

The addition of protease can improve the skin color and core color of bread, improve the smoothness and softness of bread, especially the flavor of bread. However, excessive addition will lead to incomplete bread awakening, poor softness, and poor shape.

Adding proper amount of protease can increase the volume of bread and improve the swelling in the oven, but excessive protease addition of gluten hydrolysis will lead to incomplete dough waking and sharp reduction of bread volume. The optimal amount of protease is 5 mg/kg.

Emulsifier

Emulsifier is a new type of flour improver used in recent years. The mechanism of emulsifier improving flour is: it can interact with gluten protein to form a complex, that is, the hydrophilic group of emulsifier binds to the alcohol soluble protein in flour, and the oleophilic group binds to gluten, so that the gluten protein molecules are connected to each other, forming a firm and fine gluten network, improving the elasticity and toughness of gluten and the mechanical processing resistance of dough. Emulsifiers can also form complexes with amylose, which can prevent the excessive expansion of starch as well as recrystallization and aging. Emulsifiers have been widely used in noodle foods. The use of emulsifiers in bread flour and steamed bread flour can increase the volume of bread and steamed bread, and delay the aging of products and prolong the shelf life.

Diacetyl-tartrate monoglycine (bis) (Datem)

Datem is very effective for increasing the volume of bread ‚ it acts on gluten ‚ to improve the holding capacity of the gluten network. The amount of 0.5% (in flour mass) can increase the volume of bread by more than 12%. Datem also improves the stability of frozen dough.

Glycerol monostearate

Glycerol monostearate can protect starch granules, inhibit their swelling, and make the structure of the product fine, and form a complex with the protein, thus producing a moderate bubble film, which makes the cake larger in size, elastic, and can extend the shelf life.

Sodium stearoyl lactate (SSL)

Calcium-sodium stearoyllactate can combine with glutenin and glutenin in flour protein to form gluten protein complex, which makes gluten network more elastic, improves tissue structure and increases dough volume.

It can be seen that the emulsifier mainly improves the rheological properties of flour, and the fresh-keeping performance of food is also prominent.

Hydrophilic colloid

The excellent hydration ability of hydrophilic colloid can significantly improve the water absorption capacity of dough, and can form a gel film in dough, reduce the rate of water loss, and improve the porosity, wettability and softness of bread core. Hydrophilic colloid commonly used in bread are xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and sodium alginate.

Guar gum

Guar gum has the effect of softening bread cores, possibly by inhibiting amylopectin backgrowth, reducing water loss and polymer aggregation during refrigeration, and impeding the association between amylose starch.

Sodium alginate and konjac gum

Higher dosage of sodium alginate and konjac gum significantly reduced the aging rate of bread within 4 days, which may be due to the tangling effect of gel formation on starch macromolecules, resulting in slow recrystallization of starch.

Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC)

The dough using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose can obtain a more continuous surface and thicker structure of bubbles, and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose can cover and wrap some bread components, preventing the interaction between bread components, thereby inhibiting water migration and delaying the aging of the bread.

Oxidants

A series of oxidants are used in bread, such as azodicarbonamide, bromate and calcium peroxide, because this type of modifier can mature and bleach flour, improve the quality of bread, but have a certain harm to human health, some countries have been banned. 

Now the more common bread antioxidant is ascorbic acid, natural health, can improve the rheological properties of dough, enhance the antioxidant capacity of bread and increase the volume of bread.