Overcoming bread quality decay concerns: main issues for bread shelf life as a function of biological leavening agents and different extra ingredients used in formulation. A review

Abstract

As is widely accepted, the quality decay of freshly baked bread that affects product shelf life is the result of a complex multifactorial process that involves physical staling, together with microbiological, chemical and sensorial spoilage. In this context, this paper provides a critical review of the recent literature about the main factors affecting shelf life of bread during post‐baking. An overview of the recent findings about the mechanism of bread staling is firstly provided. Afterwards, the effect on staling induced by baker's yeasts and sourdough as well as by the extra ingredients commonly utilized for bread fortification is also addressed and discussed. As inclusion/exclusion criteria, only papers dealing with wheat bread and not with long‐life bread or gluten‐free bakery products are taken into consideration. Despite recent developments in international scientific literature, the whole mechanism that induces bread staling is far from being completely understood and the best analytical methods to be adopted to measure and/or describe in depth this process appear still debated. In this topic, the effects induced on bread shelf life by the use of biological leavening agents (baker's yeasts and sourdough) as well as by some extra ingredients included in the bread recipe have been individuated as two key issues to be addressed and discussed in terms of their influence on the kinetics of bread staling. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Sourdough Microbiome Comparison and Benefits

“…In terms of texture, a positive impact was shown with presence of metabolites such as exopolysaccharides produced by LAB in sourdough [ 123 ]. Exopolysaccharides has a great water retention (due to polysaccharide-water binding ability), which in turn appears in reducing crumb hardness [ 123 , 124 , 125 ]. Exopolysaccharides, especially β-glucans [ 126 ], also contribute to the viscoelastic properties of dough [ 48 ], leading to increased volume of bread [ 11 ].…”

Bread Fortified with Cooked Purple Potato Flour and Citrus Albedo: An Evaluation of Its Compositional and Sensorial Properties

“…In this context, bread is a dynamic system undergoing physical, chemical and microbiological modifications. Considering that bread is consumed worldwide as a staple food, its staling process limits bread’s shelf life [ 1 , 2 ] and is one of the largest contributions to food waste in the world [ 3 ]. In this regard, the use of sourdough as leavening agent provides many technological advantages and higher overall quality over baker’s yeast [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], including a delayed staling process and the protection of bread from mould and bacterial spoilage [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

“…Nowadays, an increasingly popular strategy to avoid microbiological spoilage is represented by the addition of phytochemicals of different food origin, which gives the product a higher oxidative stability and consequently extended shelf life [ 2 , 25 , 26 ]. The recovery of these bioactive compounds from by-products of the food industry has also become a recent trend for the development of sustainable high value bakery products [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Effects of flaxseed cake fortification on bread shelf life, and its possible use as feed for Tenebrio molitor larvae in a circular economy: preliminary results

“…When baker's yeast was utilized as the leavening agent, no difference was detected among control and YB5: samples were moldy after 2 days of storage, showing that in these conditions the fortification did not improve bread shelf life. On the other hand, according to the literature, [40][41][42] the use of sourdough extended bread shelf life by 1 day, and mold appeared on SB0 after 3 days. The addition of 5% flaxseed cake further prolonged sourdough bread shelf life, resulting in a t fin = 4 day for SB5.…”