GB2056838A - Method for producing bread - Google Patents

Abstract

Bread of excellent quality is obtained when the dough contains L- ascorbic acid, a reducing agent other than the L-ascorbic acid and a thickening agent, e.g. xanthan gum.

Description

SPECIFICATION Method for producing bread The present invention relates to a method for producing bread of good quality. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for producing bread wherein, during kneading a dough, a L-ascorbic acid, a reducing agent other than the L-ascorbic acid and a thickening agent are added thereto.

There have conventionally been attempted to increase the volume of a bread to improve the appearance of the inner and outer phases of the bread and simultaneously to improve its taste.

For such a purpose, L-ascorbic acid is employed but it does not solely provide breads of satisfactory quality.

As a result of extenive studies, we have found that a bread of extremely good quality can be obtained by kneading a dough together with three additives, namely, a L-ascorbic acid which can oxidatively act upon the dough to stiffen the same and thereby to improve the gas retention capacity of the same, a reducing agent (other than the L-ascorbic acid) which serves oppositely to the L-ascorbic acid to soften the dough, and a thickening agent.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing bread by employing yeast, wherein a dough is kneaded together with three kinds of additives, namely, a L-ascorbic acid, a reducing agent other than the L-ascorbic acid and a thickening agent, and then fermented and baked.

In the present specification, the term "bread" includes not only Pullman type (flat-top) loafbread, English type (open-top) loafbread, roll bread, milk bread, French bread, and butter roll, but also confectionary bread such as bread filled with various jam, bun filled with sweet bean paste, loafbread containing raisin, bread containing egg and bun filled with cream paste, bread containing cereal flour other than wheat flour such as rye bread, rice bread, unpolished rice bread and whole wheat flour bread, and those fermented by yeast such as rusk, cracker and steamed bun filled with various fillers such as bean paste or cooked meat and vegetable mixture.

In carrying out the method according to the present invention, a L-ascorbic acid, a thickening agent and a reducing agent may be added during any of the steps of producing breads.

The term "a L-ascorbic acid", which is employed herein means to include L-ascorbic acid, dehydro-ascorbic acid or their salts. The L-ascorbic acid may suitable be added at a proportion of 2-100 ppm of the weight of wheat flour. No significant effect will be brought about with an incorporation less than the above proportion and no substantial further effect will be expected even if the L-ascorbic acid is added in an amount beyond the above proportion.

The term "a reducing agent other than the L-ascorbic acid", which is employed herein includes any additive which acts upon a dough in a reducing fashion and is usable in foodstuff, for example, such as cysteine, glucose-cysteine, glutathione, thioctic acid (a-lipoic acid), and their salts; keratines hydrolysates, containing cysteine; natural substances such as powdered yeast and embryo buds of grains which contain glutathione; and sulfites such as sodium sulfite, sodium hydrosulfite, potasium methabisulfite. Such a reducing agent may preferably be added, as its functional group having reducing power, in an amount of 0.02-1.0 microgram equivalent per gram of wheat flour. More preferably, the proportion ranges 0.05-0.2 microgram equivalent.Below 0.02 microgram, it is impossible to achieve the intended effect of the present invention and, over 1 microgram equivalent, the operability of a dough kneader will become poor as the dough becomes stickier and the gas retainability of the dough will be reduced thereby resulting in the volume reduction of the product.

Suitable thickening agents usable in the present invention include xanthan gum, carrageenin, tamarind gum, guar gum, locust bean gum, furcellan, Arabic gum, alginic acid, gutty gum, tragacanth gum, calaya gum, powdered mantenous taros, carboxymethyl starch and pullulan.

Xanthan gum, gutty gum and Arabic gum are particularly preferred. The thickening agent may normally be added in an amount of 10-3000 ppm of the weight of wheat flour but shall not be limited to that range. For xanthan gum, gutty gum or Arabic gum, 50-1000 ppm are preferred.

If such a thickner is added in an extremely low concentration, its effectiveness will not show up.

On the other hand, if it is added too much, the extensibility of a dough will then be rendered poor thereby to result in the small volume of the product obtained after baking.

These additives may be incorporated in a dough during its kneading operation and then thoroughly mixed together with the dough. In the sponge dough method, such additives may be added during the kneading operation of initial composition but better results will be obtainable if they are incorporated during the primary kneading operation of the sponge. According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain bread of which the volume is sufficiently large and of which the inner phase (crumb grain), outer phase (bread color, and appearance of crust) and texture (feeling obtained by pressing the texture with a finger) are satisfactory. In addition, the handling of dough is easy as the dough is not excessively sticky. The effectiveness of such additives become more apparent where no oxydizing agent is employed.

In order to show the effectivenss of the method according to this invention, the following examples were conducted. To the below-described basic composition, the additives in Table I were added and various bread was produced in accordance with the straight method.

Basic formula Wheat flour 300 g Yeast 6 9 Sugar 9 g Salt 6 9 Shortening 9 g Water 210 ml Table I (additives) L-ascorbic Cysteine Xanthan gum acid (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) Present invention 20 10 400 Control - Comparison (1) 20 Comparison (2) - 10 Comparison (3) - - 400 Comparison (4) 20 10 Comparison (5) 20 - 400 Comparison (6) - 1 0 400 Baked products were compared in volume, inner phase and outer phase. The results are shown in Table II in which each symbol denotes as follows: Q good X poor (of no commercial value) XX poorer (of no commercial value) XXX poorest (of no commercial value) Table 11 Volume Inner Outer Texture (cc) phase phase Present invention 2070 0 0 0 Control 1880 XXX XXX XXX Comparison (1) 1950 XX XXX XX Comparison (2) 2010 XX XX XX Comparison (3) 1900 XX X X Comparison (4) 1970 X X X Comparison (5) 1910 X XX X Comparison (6) 2020 X X X Example 1 To the below-described composition, were added and mixed 0.5 g of L-ascorbic acid, 0.5 g of cysteine and 20 g of xanthan gum; and the thus prepared dough was fermented, dried and then baked in accordance with the below-described conditions. Loafbread was obtained. The bread was excellent in shape, color and texture.

Bread-making formula Wheat flour 25000 g Yeast 500 g Salt 500 g Water 16750 ml Sugar 1500 g Shortening 1 250 g Yeast food 25 g The yeast food referred to in the above consists of calcium monophosphate, calcium diphosphate, ammonium chloride, calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, malt flour and starch.

Bread-making conditions First fermentation 90 minutes at 27"C Second fermentation 30 minutes at 27"C Bench time 1 7 minutes Drier 40 minutes at 38"C Baking 30 minutes at 200"C Example 2 A mixture of the below-described sponge dough formula was kneaded and then allowed to ferment for 4 hours at 27"C. An additional mixture for the below-described dough formula mixed with 0.5 g of L-ascorbic acid, 0.25 g of sodium sulfite and 1 2 g of gutty gum, was incorporated with the above sponge dough. The resulted dough was allowed to ferment for 35 minutes at 27"C and then baked for 30 minutes at 200"C to produce loafbread.

Sponge dough formula Wheat flour 1 7500 g Yeast 500 g Yeast food 25 g Water 1 0 lit.

Dough formula Wheat flour 7500 g Salt 500 g Sugar 1250 g Shortening 1250 g Water 6250 g Apart from the above experiment, L-ascorbic acid, sodium sulfite and gutty gum, which were added to the dough formula in the above experiment, were added to the sponge dough composition, and loafbread was baked while maintaining the other conditions identical to those in the above experiment. Both methods provided loafbread of excellent quality.

Example 3 To the butter-roll dough, which had been prepared in accordance with the below-mentioned butter-roll formula, were added 0.1 g of dehydro-ascorbic acid, 0.01 g of glutathione and 0.5 g of tragacanth gum, and butter-rolls were produced in accordance with the following conditions: Butter-roll formula Wheat flour 1000 9 Yeast 25 g Salt 15 9 Sugar 120 g Fat 150 g Egg 1009 Powdered skim milk 30 g Yeast feed 1 g Bread-making formula Fermentation 60 minutes at 27"C Bench time 1 5 minutes Drier 30 minutes Baking 10 minutes at 200"C Example 4 To the dough, which had been prepared at 15 C in accordance with the below-described frozen dough composition, are added 0.06 g of dehydro-ascorbic acid, 0.01 g of L-cysteine and 0.5 g of xanthan gum.The resultant mixture was then kneaded and the dough was rolled to the thickness of 10 mm. The thus rolled dough sheet was frozen at - 20"C to provide frozen dough. After the lapse of the period of three weeks from the preparation of the frozen dough, the frozen dough was defrosted and baked at 200"C for 10 minutes. Bread of good quality was resulted.

Frozen dough composition Wheat flour 1 OGO g Yeast 50 g Salt 15 g Sugar 100 g Fat 100 g Egg 100 g Milk 250 g Fat 500 g Example 5 To the sponge dough having the sponge dough formula of Example 2, was added 0.3 g of L- ascorbic acid and the mixture was kneaded to obtain a dough, which was then allowed to ferment for 4 hours at 27"C. Then, to the dough having the dough formula of Example 2, were incorporated 0.2 g of DL-cysteine and 60 g of xanthan gum. The mixture was then combined with the sponge dough and kneaded. The resultant dough was allowed to ferment for 35 minutes at 27"C and thereafter baked for 30 minutes at 200 C. Loafbread of good quality was obtained.

Claims (10)

1. A method for producing bread including kneading a dough together with a L-ascorbic acid, a reducing agent other than the L-ascorbic acid and a thickening agent,, allowing the thus kneaded dough to ferment and then baking the thus fermented dough.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the L-ascorbic acid is a member selected from the group consisting of L-ascorbic acid and the salts thereof and L-ascorbic acid amide.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the L-ascorbic acid is used in an amount of 2 to 100 ppm of the weight of wheat flour.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the reducing agent is a member selected from the group consisting of such as cysteine, glucose-cysteine, glutathione, thioctic acid (a-lipoic acid), and their salts; keratines hydrolysates containing cysteine; powdered yeast and embryo buds of grains which contain glutathione; and alkali metal sulfites, hydrosulfites and methabisu Ifites.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the reducing agent is added, as its functional group having reducing power, in an amount of 0.02-1.0 microgram equivalent per gram of wheat flour.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the thickening agent is a member selected from the group consisting of xanthan gum, carrageenin, tamarind gum, guar gum, locust bean gum, furcellan, Arabic gum, alginic acid, gutty gum, tragacanth gum, calaya gum, powdered mantenous taros, carboxymethyl starch and pullulan.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the thickening agent is used in an amount of 10 to 3000 ppm of the weight of wheat flour.

8. A method for producing bakery products by yeast fermentation of a dough containing L- ascorbic acid, a thickening agent and a reducing agent for the dough, substantially as hereinbefore described.

9. A method according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one experiment of the Examples.

10. Bakery products when obtained by a process claimed in any of the preceding claims.