The results of this work provide an insight to the underlying mechanism by which wheat bran addition impacts the volume development in bread dough. The inferences presented in this research work can be used as a basis to study bubble dynamics in an opaque food system such as bread dough. This information would be of interest to industrial researchers working on the new product development of aerated bakery products with functional fibrous ingredients.

Summary Wheat bran‐mediated effects on temperature‐induced state transitions of proofed bread dough were studied as function of its level of replacement (5%–15%) to wheat flour. Proofed dough was subjected to rheological tests at small deformations. During heating of proofed dough from 30 °C to 95 °C, the value of elastic modulus (G′) attained its maximum at a temperature (TGmax′) that represented peak gelatinisation temperature (TP). Dough with 15% bran depicted significant increase in TP over other formulations. Bran addition increased glass transition temperature (Tg) of dough and suppressed drop in elastic modulus (G′) at T > Tg. The above events resulted in decreased loaf‐specific volume and increased crumb hardness. The former was caused by retarded bubble expansion during initial stages of baking, explained by reduced uniaxial and biaxial extensibilities of dough. Mean bubble size depicted an inverse relationship with the hardness of breadcrumb.