ABSTRACT
The influence of an antistaling α-amylase on bread crumb and on wheat starch gels was investigated taking into account different levels of structural hierarchy. Bread was prepared by a conventional baking procedure. Starch gels were produced by heating a concentrated starch dispersion in closed molds. Bread and starch gels were characterized by compression tests, light microscopy (LM), differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray measurements. The α-amylase enhanced the initial firmness of starch gels and reduced the firming rate of bread and starch gels on aging. LM revealed that amylose and amylopectin phase-separated within the starch granules and that freshly baked control bread and starch gels showed weak birefringence which became more intense during aging. Amylase-containing bread and starch gels exhibited strong birefringence in the amylose rich region of the granules directly after baking which did not significantly increase during aging. The enzyme hindered the retrogradation of amylopectin as detected by differential scanning calorimetry, whereas X-ray diffraction indicated that the enzyme induced low levels of starch crystallinity which did not change during aging. It is hypothesized that the antistaling effect of the amylase is based on the capacity to partially degrade amylopectin and, by this, to hinder its recrystallization. On the other hand, the enzyme slightly degrades amylose by an endo-mechanism which, in turn, promotes the rapid formation of a partly crystalline amylose network in fresh bread and hinders amylose rearrangements during aging.
