And findings published in the Journal of Food Engineering shows as a storage temperature of -30°C alters dough rheological properties more than a storage temperature of -18°C.
Data on the challenges associated with frozen gluten-free dough is limited, said the French researchers, but several problems in the production of bread from frozen wheat dough have previously been reported, mostly related to damage of the protein network, yeast deterioration, a reduction in the water content of the surface layer of the dough (due to sublimation) and water redistribution in the system during freezing.
If the process is optimized, bread from frozen dough can have sensory and textural properties close to those of conventional bread, they add.
The authors said that they conducted empirical and fundamental rheological measurements on fresh and frozen wheat and gluten free dough to study the effects of freezing and frozen storage conditions.
Four dough formulations were tested, they continued, including a standard wheat dough, a fibre-enriched wheat dough, a standard gluten-free dough and a gluten-free dough containing amaranth flour.
No yeast was used in any formulation, added the authors.
In the study, frozen dough was stored at two different temperatures, -18 °C and -30 °C, and for 1, 7 and 28 days, while fresh samples were also analysed as a control, said the team.
The researchers found that wheat dough is more affected by freezing and by the first days of storage whereas the gluten-free dough is more affected by a longer storage time.
“This study shows that wheat dough quality is altered by the freezing process which reduces its elasticity,” state the researchers.
They also found that the moisture content of gluten-free dough is also significantly reduced by the freezing process and for gluten-free dough, unlike wheat dough, the effect of freezing on parameters such as chewiness through storage is noticeable only after the first week, they found.
Gluten-free dough containing amaranth flour showed increased resistance to freezing over the gluten free dough and the researchers maintain that the protein content of amaranth is so high that it seems to act as a filler of the dough matrix which therefore becomes more resistant to the freezing process but it becomes more sensitive to the storage conditions.
On the other hand, they found that the fibre-enriched wheat dough is much more resistant to both the freezing process and the storage conditions.
"Therefore, the addition of dietary fibres to wheat dough seems to have a double advantage: nutritional improvement and an increased resistance to freezing," the authors conclude.
Source: Journal of Food Engineering
Published ahead of print
Title: Effects of freezing and frozen storage conditions on the rheological properties of different formulations of non-yeasted wheat and gluten-free bread dough
Authors: G Leray, B Oliete, S Mezaize, S Chevallier, and N de Lamballerie