Design of a quality index for the objective evaluation of bread quality: Application to wheat breads using selected bake off technology for bread making

Bread quality index was established using the instrumental analysis of bread parameters that influence the consumers' acceptability, The instrumental methods that describe bread appearance, structure and texture have been chosen in order to enable the identification and quantification of main discrepancies of wheat bread produced by different processes such as fully baked frozen bread (FBF), partially baked frozen (PBF) and bread from unfermented frozen dough (UFD) in comparison to bread baked conventionally (CON). The significant influence of bread making technology on bread texture, crust appearance and specific volume was proven at p = 0.01. The quality index was calculated as a sum of grouped linearly normalized variables multiplied by group factor of significance and relatively to the CON bread. The presented quality index could be very useful in the bakery products development especially when innovative production process is applied. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.