Influence of the dosing process on the rheological and microstructural properties of a bakery product

This study examined the effect of the use of an automatic dosing unit on the rheological, microstructural, and textural properties of an aerated batter for preparing a bakery product. Two cases were studied: in one the batter was dosed manually into the paper cups and in the other the batter was dosed automatically into the paper cups. The flow properties of the batter dosed by the two methods showed significant differences in the consistency index, although in the flow index there was no difference. The mechanical spectra of batters at 25 and at 85 °C and the evolution of G′ and G″ with rising temperature (from 25 to 85 °C) were determined by dynamic rheological tests. Passing the batter through the automatic dosing unit produced an increase in both moduli (G′ and G″) at 25 °C and there was no difference in the values of G′ and G″ at 85 °C. The microstructure of the two batters was analyzed by cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). Observation of the batters’ microstructure revealed many changes that could be related to the dosing step. Texture profile analysis (TPA) at 50% was used to evaluate the effects of the use of the automatic dosing unit on the textural properties of the final baked products prepared with batter that had been dosed by the unit or manually and very similar results were obtained in both cases.