Baking & Snack - May 2004 - 27

INFORMATION UPDATE

lem of all. Five-day-old bread just does not taste as
good as fresh 1-day-old product, even if texture and
moistness are acceptable. Currently, there does not
seem to be a satisfactory solution. The addition of
manufactured ﬂavor to the dough can, perhaps, reinforce the desired impression made when eating
older bread. To date, however, ﬂavor researchers
have not found a way to preserve during storage
the delicate balance between all the various ﬂavor
and aroma notes found in fresh bread.
Molding. Inhibition of mold growth is a must for
ESL bread. Even the most scrupulous sanitation program cannot completely eliminate airborne mold
in the plant. Given bread's high water activity and
long expected shelf life, mold spores will germinate
and grow. Calcium propionate is somewhat effective as an inhibitor, but some people are particularly
sensitive to the taste of this ingredient.
Use of potassium sorbate has both pros and cons.
The main advantage is that it is far more effective than
calcium propionate. The main drawback is that, if
sorbate is added directly to a dough, it reacts with
gluten, decreasing dough strength. Encapsulated potassium sorbate is available; it releases only during the
baking process and does not harm dough properties.
It is relatively expensive, so the baker would have to
make a cost/beneﬁt analysis of the situation.
Another approach is to apply potassium sorbate
as a post-bake spray. This idea was proposed 25 years
ago but was not widely accepted outside English
mufﬁn and tortilla applications. Companies might
want to explore it for ESL bread. English mufﬁns are
a high moisture product with a relatively long shelf
life. When the sorbate sprayer is located at the oven
exit, the water in the spray immediately vaporizes
from the surface of the hot product, and the mufﬁns
show no mold growth during a 10-day shelf life.
The author recalls testing this spraying method on a
bread line in one of his employer's bakeries. Again,
mold growth was absent during extended storage tests.
Surprisingly, the procedure was also cost effective.
Calcium propionate inhibits yeast action to a slight
extent during fermentation and prooﬁng. By taking
the propionate out of the formula and applying it as a
spray, yeast can be decreased by about 0.5%.
With spraying, the savings more than compensates for the cost of sorbate or propionate as well as
the depreciation on the equipment. This approach
might well solve the mold growth problem for bakeries selling bread with a long shelf life.
LOW-CARB BREAD
In attempts to serve consumers who follow low-carbohydrate diets, bakers are developing breads with

a lower "net carb" content (typically 4 g to 8 g of
carbohydrate per 27-g slice). Currently, FDA does not
recognize a "low carb" category, so bakers identify
their products with label statements such as "carb
counting" or similar words.
Dieters are often instructed to perform a bit of
math using the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels
to derive net carb counts. Because the number for
carbohydrate is the total amount minus analyzable
components (moisture, protein, fat, and ash), it also
includes ﬁber and sugars. The net carb of interest to
dieters is the total carbohydrate minus ﬁber.
(Also, the amount of polyols can be subtracted
along with ﬁber from total carbohydrate to yield net
carb count. Because polyol content is not listed in
the Nutrition Facts panel, many manufacturers disclose the quantity separately on food labels. Highintensity sweeteners don't qualify as carbs either,
but their usage level is so low as to be nonexistent
on a per-serving basis.)
Low-carb bread formulas are modiﬁcations of
the reduced-calorie bread formulation, with the
following alterations:
x A ﬁber source is added. Soy ﬁber and oat ﬁber
seem to be the most prevalent choices.
x Protein, in the form of vital wheat gluten, wheat
protein isolate and soy protein, makes bread with
a higher protein content than regular styles. Wheat
protein isolate is a modiﬁed form of wheat gluten that
contributes the needed dough strength properties but
without the "buckiness" often experienced when large
amounts of vital wheat gluten are added to a dough.
x The fat content from a polyunsaturated fat such
as soybean oil is higher than in regular bread.
x The calorie content approximates that of regular bread: about 240 cal per 100 g.
x The use of a bulking agent such as polydextrose
plus a high-intensity sweetener decreases the net
carb content while still giving the sweetness desired
by US consumers.
x For icings, glazes and ﬁllings of sweet goods,
the use of polyols will provide carb-lowering effects
while substituting for a good part of the bulking
properties of sugar.
If enough ﬁber and protein are added, the bread
can also be labeled as a "good source" of these two
macronutrients.
Development of low-carb products represents the
most recent attempt by bakers to reinvent bread. It's
a process that has been going on since man started
baking bread. Just as the technology has progressed
from hot stones to automated ovens, so has the creativity applied to the formulation of baked foods. Ⅲ
- Clyde E. Stauffer, Ph.D.
For more information, see Page 162

May 2004 / BAKERS PRODUCTION MANUAL / 27

Baking & Snack - May 2004

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