Impact of microbial transglutaminase on the staling behaviour of enzyme-supplemented pan breads

The effects of microbial transglutaminase (TGM) when added singly and in combination with amylolytic (alpha-amylase, NMYL) and non-amylolytic (alpha-ylanase) enzymes on the textural profile of fresh pan beads and pan breads stored for up to 20 days have been investigated in samples made with low and high extraction rate wheat flours following a sponge-dough process. White and whole-wheat enzyme-supplemented bread samples evidenced a similar sensory firming profile but a different quantitative instrumental staling pattern during storage. Two groups of samples with different staling behaviour can be defined according to the absence (faster staling kinetics) or the presence (slower kinetics) of NMYL in the bread formula, the separation being particularly clear for hardness, cohesiveness and resilience in white bread samples. TGM when added to NMYL-supplemented doughs induced synergistic beneficial effects on fresh bread quality and staling kinetics retardation. The binary combination led to breads with softer and less chewy fresh crumbs, increased initial crumb cohesiveness and resilience, and slower crumb staling kinetics and sensory deterioration during storage, particularly for samples made with white flour.