Bread Improver

The problems facing by bread and pastry production.

As a baker, it is hard to deal with two things during the making process:

One is the quality of flour. The baker cannot control the quality of flour. Only by controlling the
production process, that is, adding improver, can he improve the stability of the production process
and the quality of bread.

The other one is the aging of wheat starch. After bread is taken out from the oven, starch will begin
its aging process, that is, bread hardens and has dregs. Chinese pasta, such as steamed stuffed bun
and steamed bun, will also face the problems of fast aging, toughness, and rough structure.

All these factors will affect the quality of flour product. In order to solve these problems, many
bakers will choose bread improver.

The role of improver in the production of bread

The direct effect of improver:

Firstly, bread improver can effectively improve the stability of dough during the production process,
such as improving the anti-stirring property and the stability of dough in the fermentation process.

Secondly, the improver can improve the heating expansion of the dough, mainly in the volume of the
finished product, and improve the uniformity of the internal structure of the finished product.

Thirdly, the improver can keep the soft property of finished product for a long time, that is, delaying
the retrogradation of starch and so on.

Specific performance on bread:

Increase the volume (expansion in the oven)

The improver can enhance the binding of gluten protein, making the gluten more compact, which
can maintain more gas produced by yeast fermentation. So, the organization is more exquisite,
and the expansibility is better. It can also improve the expansion of dough to make the bread
easy to expand during the baking process.

Deepen the surface colour of bread.

he amylase in the bread improver can hydrolyse the starch into dextrin or small molecule starch, and
then produce reducing sugar under the effect of other enzymes or yeast. The reducing sugar and
protein can react to change the colour when they are heated.

Improve the stability of dough.

Especially in the industrial production, the inner structure of bread is unstable and easy to collapse.
The bread improver can enhance the gluten network structure, which makes the dough stable
during stirring process and difficult to over stir. In the fermentation process, this bread structure is
easy to maintain the gas. Therefore, it can keep the best bread quality under different conditions.

Mechanical operability of dough (without good mechanical operability, dough will

easily stick to the machine.)
What is good mechanical operability?
Specific performance: when we process the dough, the dough should be hard, elastic and dry; if
not, the dough will stick to the machine and is difficult to shape. The bread improver can enhance
the gluten, which makes the dough elastic, dry and easy to operate.

Improve the inner texture of finished bread (even texture).

The theory:

Enhance the gluten to make gluten compact and holes small and rich.

Emulsification makes each element in dough more even.

Oxidation makes the tissue whiter. Some components in the improver together with oxygen can
oxidize the colour.

How to choose Bread Improver?

Different users (different technology, kinds and mechanical processing conditions) have different
requirements for the improver.
User types Shelf life Function requirements
Bakery chain Within 4 days The flour quality is generally good. And the shops
are not very sensitive to the price. The improver is
relatively high-end.
Wholesale bakery Generally, 7 days Strictly control the cost. The flour is cheap. There
to half a month is a high requirement for improver property and
price. Bread is anti-fermentation and has good
expansion in oven and exquisite organization.
Long shelf-life bread Generally, 2-6 There is a particular requirement for improver: big
months water absorption, good water-retaining property,
and high eligibility.
Hamburg, sliced toast 7 days Because there is a standard for raw materials,
factory processing technique and finished product quality,
the bread quality must be stable and meet the
needs of automated production.
 Gluten: How Does It Work?

Gluten has gotten a bad rap lately—it was practically a four-letter word when we started
working on Modernist Bread—but in the world of bread, it is your friend. As Jimmy Kimmel
discovered, there is a bit of confusion about what gluten is and what it does. Whether you avoid
gluten or cannot get enough of it, we think it is important to understand how it works.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat products. In bread making, it is exceedingly important. Think of
gluten as the miraculous net that holds bread together; it helps dough rise by trapping gas bubbles
during fermentation and gives bread its unique texture. Although bread begins with many of the
same ingredients as cookies, pastries, cakes, and even shortbreads, it has a completely different
consistency. Gluten makes bread airy and satisfyingly chewy—it is hard to imagine enjoying a chewy
cake or a bread that crumbles like a cookie.

Gluten is formed when two of wheat’s native proteins, glutenin and gliadin, come into contact with
water. That’s why it’s more accurate to talk about the gluten potential of a particular flour, rather
than its gluten content. Either way you phrase it, the more gluten a flour can produce, the more able
the dough is to hold gas bubbles, and those gas bubbles are what gives bread an open crumb.

Adding water to flour starts a chemical process that can eventually lead to gluten development.
When we grind wheat flour, we destroy the structure of the seed (the cells and organelles),
preventing germination. But a cascade of chemical reactions will still occur when the flour is
hydrated because the materials that cause the reactions are still present. Gluten development
occurs when we add water to flour and let the enzymes work as they were intended.

Gluten Development

From a baker’s perspective, gluten development begins during mixing. The basic point of mixing is to
hydrate flour. Mixing matters not because it is necessary to develop gluten; you can develop gluten
with minimal mixing (there really is no need to knead). Mixing is essential because it speeds up the
hydration process and ensures that water is evenly dispersed throughout the flour.

When hydrated, the glutenin and gliadin proteins almost immediately bind and form gluten. The
longer glutenin pieces link up with each other via disulphide bonds to form strong, stretchy units of
molecules. These interlinked strands are among the largest protein molecules yet identified. More
compact gliadin proteins allow the dough to flow like a fluid, whereas glutenin’s contribute strength.

Although hydration happens quickly, it takes time to form the chemical attachments that knit gluten
proteins together into a strong network. Proteases (protein-snipping enzymes) begin cutting strands
of gluten into smaller pieces that are able to make additional connections. Protease is found in very
small amounts in wheat flour; an excess of it would cut gluten strands too much and have the
opposite effect on the gluten network.
Salt provides more than flavour—it strengthens gluten bonding. Although the gluten proteins
naturally repel one another, the chloride ions in salt help them overcome that repulsion and stick
together. You can see this change happen within dough when you add salt later in the mixing
process: as the salt mixes in and dissolves, the tacky dough firms up.

Fats, such as butter and oils, slow down the gluten-forming process by coating the protein strands,
which is one reason enriched doughs such as brioche call for longer mixing times. The coating acts
like a barrier that prevents gluten proteins from sticking to one another, stunting the growth of long
chains. It’s because of these clipped strands of gluten that we can intricately shape enriched doughs,
such as challah. With a small addition of solid fat (1%–3%), lean dough becomes stretcher (allowing
it to rise higher) and easier to handle. Fat-enriched recipes, like brioche, can call for large amounts of
fat. Fat in these quantities hinder gluten formation and lead to a soft, tender crumb that is more like
that of a cake.

As mixing continues and the ingredients transform into dough, the chains of proteins become more
numerous and elongated; they organize into a sort of webbing (the network can be seen in the
image above, which was taken with a scanning electron microscope) that has both elasticity (the
ability to stretch) and extensibility (the ability to hold a shape). Without this little protein tango,
bread would be a very different thing: flatter, crumblier, denser, and less chewy.

The network of gluten will continue to develop, gradually becoming stronger and more complex, up
until the dough is fully proofed. Enzymes have even more time to act while the dough rests and
begins to ferment. Chains of gluten grow longer and stronger as more and more molecules stick
together. During bulk fermentation, bakers periodically fold the resting dough to help align the
gluten strands into an even, organized structure, which gives the dough the integrity it needs to
expand as the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast and water vapor are introduced into the
bubbles.

When the gluten network is strong enough, the dough can be shaped. Bakers check gluten
development by performing the windowpane test, which involves stretching a portion of dough in
your hands. A well-developed dough can be stretched so thin that it is translucent. Gluten strands
tighten and reorganize once again as the dough is divided and shaped. The tension created during
shaping helps the dough expand at a steady rate, producing uniform loaves.