Influence of additives and mixing time on crumb grain characteristics of wheat bread

The effect of additives and processing parameters on wheat bread were investigated objectively using image analysis (IA). Five different bread types were produced by varying the ingredients (standard, standard with fat, standard with emulsifiers) and changing the mixing times (90, 150, and 240 sec). A digital IA system for wheat bread was developed from generic commercial software. The system yielded reproducible results for a variety of bread crumb grain image features. Bread slices were scanned and evaluated using the IA system. Image characteristics were determined for each bread type. All data was statistically evaluated to detect significant differences between bread types. It was shown quantitatively that inclusion of fat or emulsifiers or extension of mixing time had a significant effect on crumb grain features such as mean cell area, total cell area, and number of cells/cm². The five bread types could be distinguished solely by crumb grain characteristics.