Study on the opportunity to improve the quality of the flour for pastry by adding chemical leavening agents

Abstract

Food products that do not require practices for processing, and are easy to prepare have attracted the attention of consumers. An example of this type of product is the premixes formulations for cake mix which allows the cake to be made easily and quickly. The consumer of this type of product has the expectation, when following the instructions, to obtain a uniform and quality product. There are many different chemical leavening agents available to the baker. These include baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), ammonium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, baking powder (baking soda, calcium phosphate and sodium aluminum sulfate) and leavening acids. Generating CO2 and neutralizing sodium bicarbonate is the primary role of leavening acids, but, it is important not to forget their secondary role and their effects. Taking into consideration these facts, the objective of experiments was to establish the connection between quantity and quality of leavening agents and the quality of bakery products. As the chemical leavening agents get into flour, it is also important to comprehend how they influence the rheological parameters of flour with direct implication in the quality of the products made. For experiments, baking powder was used, which was added in specific quantities to wheat flour. The flour samples were made, and the samples obtained were sensory evaluated in the panel. Correlating Mixolab Profiler indices with the baking samples, and also with the legislation regarding, the best results were obtained for flour with 2% baking powder.