Rheological, microstructural and sensorial properties of durum wheat bread as affected by dough water content

In this paper the influence of water content on the rheological, microstructural and sensorial properties of durum wheat bread was evaluated. In order to evaluate bread quality, oscillation measurements, stress relaxation test and creep-recovery measurements were performed on dough samples, whereas tomographic and sensorial analyses were performed on baked bread samples. Results of the rheological analysis highlighted that both the storage and loss moduli (G′, G″) showed a descending trend with the increase of the water content. This is also confirmed by stress relaxation tests. Creep-recovery tests for strong doughs (with low water content), recorded greater resistance to deformation, therefore a smaller creep strain than the softer doughs. These results were reflected in the microstructural properties of the bread; an increase in water content caused an increase in the percentage volume of pores. Regarding the sensorial properties, the overall acceptability of the investigated bread samples was low for both the lowest and the highest water contents, and this was due primarily to the compact crumb with small bubbles and high crust firmness for the former and to the loaf volume collapsed with irregular distribution of very large bubbles for the latter. Therefore, the bread samples with intermediate water content were preferred by the panelists.

► High water content has softening effect on dough samples. ► Dough with higher water content is more elastic than the lower water content ones. ► An increase in water content caused an increase in the percentage volume of pores. ► Overall acceptability decreased with both the highest and the lowest water contents.