Innovation for the production of bakery products – New Food Magazine

Clelia Covino, PhD trainee of Food Science at the Agriculture University of Naples Federico II, checks out how enzymes can be leveraged to more innovation in the bakeshop sector.

Nowadays, consumers’ food needs and preferences have actually changed considerably. In order to have healthier and fibre-rich foods, the market is moving towards the production of foods with a minimal use of chemicals. Enzymes are used as adjuvants/additives, which included to flour preserve the high quality of bakeshop items.

Enzymes in wheat caryopsis

Wheat flour is a complex and constant network of gluten proteins in which starch molecules are incorporated into the dough. In the wheat grain, in addition to gluten, there are other proteins that are really important from a technological point of view: the enzymes. These are soluble proteins that represent 10 percent of the protein content of flour and are focused in the outer areas of the grain (germ and aleuronic layer).

Enzymes are catalysts of a specified response, i.e. they are substances capable of triggering a series of reactions to take place. The enzyme communicates with the substrate, joins it thanks to its active site and, once the response has taken place, moves away, remaining available to begin a new one. The reaction rate is not figured out by the concentration of the substrate however by the ideal environmental conditions for the enzyme to function (temperature, pH, existence of salt particles).1 The enzymes present in the caryopsis have the function of destroying the reserve substances at the moment of germination and bring out primarily hydrolytic breaking activity: among the most essential are amylases, xylanases, proteases and lipases.Addition of enzymes in flours The usage of enzymes in biotechnological processes becomes part of a long tradition. Today, enzymes play a main role in food technology, so much so that the applications of enzymes in bakeshop items are growing at an increasingly rapid rate. The enzymatic treatment of wheat flour is a fascinating option to create modifications in the dough structure and, subsequently, to improve the functional residential or commercial properties of the flour. Enzymes can be added in flours to enhance the technological homes, so they are acknowledged as safe and do not stay active in the end product after cooking. They can be quickly inactivated by the time-temperature treatment of cooking. Therefore, enzymes do not have to be labelled and this represents a business advantage.2 In this method the consumer believes about buying non-additive flour, but in reality this is not^{the case. Some enzymes are added to exploit their whitening effect, as the addition of chemical lightening agents is banned in the EU.}

Art. 20 of Reg.(EU )n ° 1169/2011, combined with art. 3 Reg.(EC )n ° 1333/2008 give the chance to modify the flours by

adding, in many cases without concentration limitation, voluntary additives such as dry gluten, phosphoric acid, L-cysteine, ascorbic acid, silicon dioxide and likewise enzymes. Therefore for enzymes there is no obligation to define on the label concentration, particular nomenclature, uniqueness of action, enabling the use of a large range of endogenous biological catalysts belonging to the generic category of hydrolase and oxidoriduttase (transglutaminase, protease, alpha and beta amylase, cellulase, xylanase, pentosanase, glucose oxidase and so on)used as they are or in appropriate synergy. Proteases are used on a big commercial scale for the production of bread, pastry shop products, crackers and wafers. These enzymes act upon the peptide bonds of proteins and

can be contributed to decrease mixing time, to reduce dough consistency, to guarantee dough harmony, to regulate gluten strength, to manage consistency and to improve the taste of baked foods. Additionally, proteases have mostly changed bisulphite, which was formerly utilized to control the consistency of the dough by decreasing the disulphide bonds of proteins.

For that reason, including protease to the dough would cause changes in the dough handling properties, gluten elasticity and consistency resulting in shorter kneading time and increased loaf volume.3 The addition of transglutaminase alone considerably decreases the specific volume of the loaf; it provides a finer structure to the crumb and enhances the gluten by cross-linking.4 The action of amylase is to catalyse the hydrolysis of alpha-1,4-glycosidic bonds in starch particles(amylose and amylopectin ), forming maltodextrins and oligosaccharides. The amylolytic activity of the flour affects the quality of the

baked foods, in truth if this worth is too low, the end product will have a lowered volume of the loaf, crust and dry crumb, while if the amylolytic activity is too high it will have a low volume, dark, sticky crust and crumb and large holes inside.5 Enzymes do not need to be labelled and this represents a business advantage. Xylanase is a hydrolase which has the ability to hydrolyse water-soluble arabinoxylans to reduce the molecular weight portions that have a positive impact on the growth capability,

particular volume and consistency of the last product. It can be utilized to accelerate the baking of

bread and other foods.6 At optimal dose, xylanases can improve the kneading of the dough, loaf volume, dough stability, crumb structure and life span. As a result of the hydrolytic action of xylanases, complimentary sugars such as pentoses can be released, which can be used by microorganisms for fermentation.^{In addition, xyloligosaccharides launched by endoxylanase may form much healthier foods. The health results of xyloligosaccharides are mainly related to their impact on gastrointestinal flora. Cellulose belongs to the household of glycosidic hydrolases, efficient in catalysing the hydrolysis of(1,4)}

-beta-D-glucosidic bonds in cellulose and other beta-D-glucans. Thanks to their specific system of action, these enzymes can produce positive results during baking, such as the rheological behaviour of the dough and the quality of the end products.2 Enzymes act upon the peptide bonds of proteins and can be included to minimize mixing time, to reduce dough consistency, to guarantee dough harmony, to manage gluten strength, to manage consistency and to enhance the taste of baked foods. Moreover, enzymes can be used in the food market to lower the enzymatic browning of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase which catalyse the oxidation of phenolic substances resulting in the formation of dark pigments. Some enzymes are included to exploit their whitening effect, as the addition of chemical

bleaching representatives is banned in the EU. Glucose-oxidase has actually been studied due to the fact that it increases the bleaching of the dough as it is able to break down beta-carotene. In addition, it catalyses the cross-linking development of dithyrosine and the gelatinisation of water-soluble pentosanes, therefore increasing the durability and elasticity of the dough with a decline in extensibility.7 The above discussed measures for that reason cause baked items with improved sensory characteristics, flavour, higher experience of softness and reduced chewability. In this method, synergistic factors such as xylanase and lipase, xylanase and transglutaminase, alpha-amylase and xylanase, alpha-amylase and transglutaminase, glucose-oxidase and lipase, fungal alpha-amylase and glucose-oxidase, and so on, enhance the biochemical action of the single natural catalysts substantially enhancing the rheological, conservative and sensorial homes of the acquired products. Flours used for the production of bakery products consist of endogenous enzymes and are additional enriched with enzymes improving process efficiency. In addition, the synergistic effect of mixes of these enzymes on the dough enhances the final item. 1. Whitehurst R. J. and van Oort M.(2010). Enzymes in Food Innovation. Second edition Wiley-Blackwell. 2. Caballero, P. A., Gómez, M., & Rosell

, C. M.( 2007 ). Enhancement of dough rheology, bread quality and bread shelf-life by enzymes mix. J Food Eng, 81( 1), 42– 53. 3. Hassan A. A., Mansour E. H., El Bedawey A. A., Zaki M. S. (2014). Improving dough rheology and cookie quality by protease enzyme.

American Journal of Food Science and Nutrition Research Study, 1(1), 1-7. 4. Rosell C. M., Wang J., Aja S., Bean S.

, and Lookhart G.( 2003 & ). Wheat Flour Proteins as Affected by Transglutaminase and Glucose Oxidase. Cereal Chem. 80( 1 ), 52– 55.

5. Szafrańska A. (2014). Comparison of alpha-amylase activity of wheat flour approximated by standard and modern strategies. Acta Agrophysica, 21 (4), 493-505. 6. Shah A.R., Shah R.K., Madamwar D.(2006). Improvement of the quality of entire wheat bread by supplements of xylanase from Aspergillus foetidus. Bioresource Innovation 97, 2047– 2053. 7. Yang T., Bai Y., Wu

F., Yang N., Zhang Y., Bashari M., Jin Z., Xu X. (2014). Combined results of glucose oxidase, papain and xylanase on browning inhibition and characteristics of fresh

whole wheat dough. Journal of Cereal Science 60, 249-254. About the author Clelia Covino is a PhD trainee of Food Science at the Farming University of Naples, Federico II(Italy). In 2016, she completed

her degree in Food Science and Technology at the same University. Clelia went to the Erasmus task for her Master thesis on’Polyphenoloxidase from Lactuca Sativa(var. iceberg): characterisation and application in enzymatic biosensors for the detection of catechols’at

the Laboratory of

Analytical Chemistry in Madrid Complutense University (Spain).