Exploring the relationship between physical properties and sensory characteristics of newly developed white breads with improved nutritional composition – initial insights

Staple foods such as bread are key contributors to the diet. Accordingly, there is growing emphasis on improving the nutritional composition of wheat (e.g., increasing the dietary fibre content); however, the impacts of such improvements on bread characteristics remains unclear. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the relationship between physical properties (slice dimensions, cell crumb, water activity, moisture content, colour and texture analysis) and sensory profile (via a trained sensory panel; n = 12) of five newly developed white breads compared with a commercial standard. Overall, sensory profiling identified twenty-seven attributes to describe the breads; key differences between breads related to the appearance (i) colour: crust (top/side) and crumb (centre) and (ii) density which could be explained by physical properties to varying extents. For example, breads higher in dietary fibre tended to have smaller slice height, larger cell area, higher water activity and moisture content as well as instrumental texture (springiness) and colour (darker) differences. In summary, findings are promising in terms of tested white bread prototypes and provide key insights for further product development. Going forwards, developing nutritionally enhanced white bread without modulating cost and quality could have noteworthy public health benefits.