Ascorbic acid in bread increases the performance of bread dough.Albert von Szent Györgyi discovered ascorbic acid in the late 1920s and was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1937. At the time, it was used as a treatment for scurvy due to lack of diet in fresh fruits and vegetables.Ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C. An essential nutrient found in citrus fruits and many vegetables. This substance, if used properly, can greatly help our physical and mental health.Most ascorbic acid used in the food industry is made from carbon sources (eg glucose or molasses) using a combination of microbial fermentation and chemical methods.
The development of cooking technology is a phenomenon that has had a great impact on the food industry and has increased the acceptance of food by consumers. Today, the use of various additives such as emulsifiers, oxidants and enzymes to improve the quality of bread is a common method.Bread is an essential part of the human diet and for many of us it is a staple food. But as much as we want to eat freshly baked bread every day, freshly baked bread is not available around the clock. The preservatives used on bread can be artificial or natural. Remember that too much preservative can ultimately affect the taste of your cooked goods.Ascorbic acid is used in commercial bakeries and large bread factories as a dough improver or softener, the main purpose of which is to accelerate the rise of the dough and increase the shelf life of the bread.What happens is that despite its role as an antioxidant, it is used as an oxidizer in dough production. Making large amounts of bread requires a quick process of kneading oxygen, which helps gluten grow faster.The oxidizer helps the adhesive chains to form a bond that strengthens the gluten network, so the dough is more elastic, stronger, and more stable, and can be easily expanded, which in turn breaks with swelling during baking. Will not this is a Applications of ascorbic acid.
On top of all that, what you get is more bread, faster and finer ingredients.It is used as a wheat flour improver in yeast-baked products to help increase bread volume and provide better tolerance to changing processing conditions, such as dough temperature and refining time.Along with dough-boosting enzymes, such as lipase, amylase, and xylanase, it is often used in clean-labeled bread formulations.In the baking industry, it is known as dehydroscorbic acid.In 1935, Jorgensen developed the use of ascorbic acid as a flour improver or dough softener. In small doses, as much as 20-30 mg per kilogram of bread bread, 20% was added.One of the prominent functions of ascorbic acid in bread is to stabilize the gluten protein network. It causes more bread volume and finer and more uniform structure.Unlike traditional oxidizing agents, such as potassium bromate, azodicarbonamide (ADA), and calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid is highly dependent on external factors. To function as an oxidant, it needs oxygen as well as the presence of an enzyme found naturally in cereals.Ascorbic acid itself is a reducing agent with strong antioxidant properties in food systems. However, in the presence of oxygen gas and ascorbic acid oxidase, an enzyme found naturally in wheat flour, ascorbic acid is converted to its dehydrogen form.This oxidized form can participate in oxidation reactions when mixing flour and water, such as the SH / SS exchange between cysteine residues and gluten-forming proteins. Oxidation of thiol groups causes disulfide bonds between proteins, causing gluten cross-linking and polymerization (gluten-enhancing effect).
Boosting gluten can have several consequences in bread production:
Higher dough storage capacity
Stretch the dough more
More tolerance of the dough against over-correction and over-mixing
Absorb more water from the flour to obtain the equivalent rheology of the dough after mixing
Reduce the viscosity of the dough
More dough resistance to deformation
However, vitamin C is very sensitive to heat and, unfortunately, decomposes during cooking. So in the end there is virtually no vitamin C left in your bread.Ascorbic acid is said to be harmful in high or very high doses. Let’s say that if you consume a few grams a day, it can cause side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, headache, hot and red skin. The amount used to bake bread is very small, even if the remnants remain in the bread, it is destroyed and is certainly harmless.
Yeast is known as a living organism and when you freeze the dough, it usually destroys about 30% of the yeast. It simply dies in the freezing process.This dough consists mainly of flour and water. During the freezing phase, the liquids expand. The spread of liquids breaks down the texture of the dough.And this is where ascorbic acid comes into play. Using it improves the state of the dough when heated and improves it and compensates for the yeast that has been lost in the process.
A good way to prevent bread from aging is to keep it away from direct sources of heat and sunlight. The heat in the bread packaging creates moisture, which makes it a breeding ground for mold and bacteria. Store breads in an airtight container. Bread spoils faster with other additives such as fillings, cream, jam and cheese. So buy only as much as 24 hours consumption.