Cereal Chem 60:298 - 300.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Bread Staling Studies. I. Effect of Surfactants on Moisture Migration from Crumb to Crust and Firmness Values of Bread Crumb.

W. Pisesookbunterng and B. L. D'Appolonia. Copyright 1983 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The effect of surfactants on moisture migration from the crumb to the crust of bread and firmness values of bread crumb were investigated. In bread containing surfactant, moisture migration from the crumb to the crust was greater than in the control bread. The level of surfactant commonly used in breadmaking, 0.5%, did not lower surface tension of water in bread crumb, and thus could not assist in moisture retention within the crumb. The adsorption of surfactant onto the starch surface, as well as the complex formation between starch and surfactant, prevented starch from taking up water released from gluten during bread aging. Consequently, this water released from the gluten would be available to migrate from the crumb to the crust of the bread. Surfactant did not appreciably affect firmness of fresh bread crumb, but did slow the firming rate of bread crumb during bread storage. The lower firmness values of bread as the bread aged suggested that sodium stearoyl lactylate had the strongest binding ability with starch among the surfactants studied.