Jan. 13, 2025
An improver is used to improve the bread in texture (in baking terms, the tenderness of the bread), colour, taste and composition. A baker has to deliver fresh bread every day and when using auxiliary substances, it reduces problems in the baking process. A bread improver enables the baker to create a trouble-free processing and ease in dosing, even when facing a wide range of bread, the complexity of the baking process (kneading, first rising of the bread, preparation, second rising, baking, cooling, cutting) and the differences in skills of the employees.
Almost every traditional and industrial baker uses a limited range of equipment while baking a wide range of breads, running a number of recipes in sequence. If something goes wrong with one dough (for example, the dough is too sticky, has no or too much volume, goes dark or causes trouble when cutting), the remainder of production line also runs into trouble. This causes a number of lost production hours, and the bakery can&#;t deliver. In the Netherlands, we mostly consume freshly baked bread. The time between baking and selling is often less than 24 hours. Problems in the production line are disastrous for both baker and customer. That day is lost, and in the meantime, preparations have to be made for the next day.
Emulsifiers such as DATEM (E472e), monoglyceride (E471) and calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL, or E482) have a positive effect on the processing quality, floury texture and tenderness. These emulsifiers ensure that the gas bubbles are trapped in the dough during kneading and rising and provide a nice floury texture. Emulsifiers can be left out, but this creates a technological risk because the &#;tolerance&#; of the dough decreases. This results in quality fluctuations and it affects how well the bread can be cut. Some bakeries can omit emulsifiers, others don&#;t due to the fact that their baking equipment cannot handle fluctuations very well.
Bread improvers may also be used to reduce the quantity of another ingredient, such as salt. Salt has an effect on the taste, yet also creates a less sticky dough and a better development of the dough. A decade ago, we have demonstrated at the European Bakery Innovation Centre, Sonneveld&#;s open innovation centre, that we can reduce the amount of salt in bread while maintaining processing properties. Customers could not tell the difference in taste. This can be achieved by using enzymes and ascorbic acid (vitamin C; E300).
Substances are used to make dough smoother, making it easier for the dough to pass the bread production line. In the past, bakers used cysteine, a structural component of proteins. The story goes that cysteine is made of human hair. This type of cysteine can&#;t be used, it has been banned in Europe since . Sonneveld only uses cysteine that is produced by fermentation. There is also an animal source of cysteine (pig hair or duck/chicken feathers); however, Sonneveld also does not use this type. The cysteine we use is purchased in Japan or Germany. Nowadays, as a result of discussions in the media and the wishes of our customers, we have replaced the cysteine in our bread improvers by enzymes or inactive yeast.
Due to the large customer and consumer demand for E number-free products (and thus products with a clean label), we have developed a wide range of E number-free improvers. These include wheat fibre, betaglucan from oats and inulin from Jerusalem artichoke. A large part of the E numbers can be replaced by enzymes that split carbohydrates (amylase = starch splitting and hemicellulase = hemicellulose splitting), split fats (lipase) or crosslink proteins (glucose oxidase). Finally, improvers may also contain natural substances such as herb extracts (curcuma extracts for a yellow colour), malt for a darker colour, and nutrients such as vegetable fibres, vitamins and minerals.
As a baker, it is hard to deal with two things during the making process:
One is the quality of flour. The baker cannot control the quality of flour. Only by controlling the production process, that is, adding improver, can he improve the stability of the production process and the quality of bread.
The other one is the aging of wheat starch. After bread is taken out from the oven, starch will begin its aging process, that is, bread hardens and has dregs. Chinese pasta, such as steamed stuffed bun and steamed bun, will also face the problems of fast aging, toughness and rough structure.
All these factors will affect the quality of flour product. In order to solve these problems, many bakers will choose bread improver.
The direct effect of improver:
Firstly, bread improver can effectively improve the stability of dough during the production process, such as improving the anti-stirring property and the stability of dough in the fermentation process.
Secondly, the improver can improve the heating expansion of the dough, mainly in the volume of the finished product, and improve the uniformity of the internal structure of the finished product
Thirdly, the improver can keep the soft property of finished product for a long time, that is, delaying the retrogradation of starch and so on.
Specific performance on bread:
&#; Increase the volume (expansion in the oven)
Contrast pictures of the volume of the finished toast
The improver can enhance the binding of gluten protein, making the gluten more compact, which can maintain more gas produced by yeast fermentation. So the organization is more exquisite and the expansibility is better. It can also improve the expansion of dough to make the bread easy to expand during the baking process.
&#; Deepen the surface color of bread
left: without improver right: with improver
The amylase in the bread improver can hydrolyze the starch into dextrin or small molecule starch, and then produce reducing sugar under the effect of other enzymes or yeast. The reducing sugar and protein can react to change the color when they are heated.
&#; Improve the stability of dough
Especially in the industrial production, the inner structure of bread is unstable and easy to collapse.
The bread improver can enhanced the gluten network structure, which makes the dough stable during stirring process and difficult to over stir. In the fermentation process, this bread structure is easy to maintain the gas. Therefore, it can keep the best bread quality under different conditions.
&#; Mechanical operability of dough (without good mechanical operability, dough will easily stick to the machine.)
What is good mechanical operability?
Specific performance: when we process the dough, the dough should be hard, elastic and dry; if not, the dough will stick to the machine and is difficult to shape. The bread improver can enhance the gluten, which makes the dough elastic, dry and easy to operate.
&#; Improve the inner texture of finished bread (even texture).
The contrast picture of bread texture.
The theory:
Enhance the gluten to make gluten compact and holes small and rich.
Emulsification makes each element in dough more even.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Yulin HB™.
Oxidation makes the tissue whiter. Some components in the improver together with oxygen can oxidize the color.
&#; Anti-aging (extend the shelf life)
Pressure-time diagram
&#; The softness of bread tissue
The contrast picture: placing weight on bread for 24 hours
Softness is an important factor for customers to consider when choosing the bread:
Firstly, bread must have good tissue, exquisite organization and ideal protein formation (The good formed protein is polymer which can save water.). If not, bread is easy to age.
Secondly, the enzyme in the improver can break down the starch structure, so that the starch is not easy to age.
Thirdly, the combination of emulsifier and starch can change the structure of starch and slow the aging process of starch.
&#; Improve the crispy degree of bread surface (particularly refer to french bread)
The contrast picture of French bread surface.
The improver can enhance the bread gluten, making the expansion better. It can also make the surface crispy under the condition of high temperature and short time baking. Amylase in improver can produce reducing sugar, making the bread color better. If water is sprayed on the surface of bread, there will be dextrin and small molecules to make the bread surface crispy.
The role of improver in steamed stuffed bun:
The surface is smooth and white.
The tissue is even and exquisite.
The volume will be increased.
The steamed stuffed bun can maintain more water and have a long shelf life.
The contrast picture of steamed stuffed bun.
What is the difference between the improver for steamed stuffed bun and bread?
The role of improver in fermentation process and the function of improver to inner organization are almost same. But the heating method is different. The steamed stuffed bun is heated by steam, which can make the bread surface smooth and glossy (if the organization is exquisite, the surface is white. If the temperature of the oven is over high, the surface color will be not ideal. There is a certain relationship between color and improver.).
Different users (different technology, kinds and mechanical processing conditions) have different requirements for the improver.
About Yeast & Baking
Angel Yeast has absorbed the essence of the global baking industry to build a baking service platform and to provide more comprehensive solutions for the baking industry.
About Angel:
Angel Yeast Company is a high-tech listed company specializing in yeast and biotech. Product business covers Yeast and Baking, Yeast Extract-Savoury, Nutrition & Health and Biotechnology fields. It is one of the world's leading companies in the yeast industry. Angel has 12 holding subsidiaries and provides products and services for more than 150 countries and regions.
Press contact:
Angel Yeast Co., Ltd.
Address: 168 Chengdong Avenue, Yichang, Hubei, P. R. China
: +86-717-
Fax: +86-717-
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