Effect of Process Modifications in Two Cycles of Dough Mixing on Physical Properties of Wheat Bread Baked from Weak Flour

Common availability of dough improvers permits the production of bread of good quality, but only modifications of the process may be used for the production of natural products. Dough from weak flour, after application of certain treatments, displays poorer baking properties; therefore, in our study, it is proposed to apply slow-speed mixing in two cycles. In the literature, there is a lack of comparisons of results of baking with the straight dough method (one-cycle mixing) with modified methods including the application of two equal cycles of dough mixing and two “incomplete” cycles, the first of which lasts twice as long as the second one partial two-cycle mixing (PTCM)]. This study involved the determination of the quality properties of bread (loaf volume, specific weight, crust thickness, crumb whiteness, crumb hardness index, and crumb heterogeneity index) under the effect of process modifications, analyzing the effect of dough mixing time and resting time between the mixing cycles. The study included also regression equations describing the physical properties of bread. Based on the tests performed, it was noted that in the case of flour characterized by poor baking quality, the process effectiveness can be enhanced through the application of two incomplete mixing cycles (PTCM), with dough resting time in the range of 10–20 min. This treatment resulted breads with significantly greater loaf volume, lower specific weight, lower whiteness index, and hardness compared to breads baked using the straight dough method. It is not recommended to use two equal duration cycles of dough mixing.