Effect of different carbohydrases on fresh bread texture and bread staling

The effect of cellulase, xylanase and β-glucanase on the properties of wheat bread and its staling during storage was studied. The presence of the carbohydrases tested led to breads with high specific volume compared to the control. The texture profile analysis was greatly modified in that the firmness of bread crumb was reduced by all the carbohydrases. A kinetic study of the firmness along with the storage by the Avrami equation showed that the presence of carbohydrases produced softer crumbs and also reduced the rate of bread firming, although no great differences were found between enzymes. Since retrogradation of starch is one of most important factors related to bread staling, the modification of the amylopectin retrogradation was measured by scanning calorimetry. Those studies showed that all the carbohydrases decrease the starch retrogradation, and that the xylanases had the greatest effect. The simultaneous analysis of the firming and starch retrogradation results revealed that the anti-staling effect of xylanase might be due to the retardation in the starch retrogradation, while in the case of cellulase and β-glucanase some other mechanism should be implied in their anti-staling action.