Cereal Chem. 75(6):847-853Selected types of commercial breads obtained from local markets, including white sandwich, Irish oatmeal, soft rye, hearty rye, sour dough, home-like white, and onion-basil, were analyzed for volatiles. Using a purge and trap instrument, volatiles were purged directly from fresh crumb and crust samples of each bread type, collected on a trap (Tenax-TA), and transferred to a gas chromatograph. Separated components were detected and identified using mass and infrared spectroscopic detectors. Many components were present in all of the bread samples, with relative amounts varying among bread types and crust and crumb samples of a given bread type. Alcohols were generally the most abundant, followed in approximate order by aldehydes, esters, ketones, acids, various aromatics, terpenes, and hydrocarbons. Flavor additives, such as limonene, carvone, and other related compounds, were found mostly in rye and onion-basil breads. Composition of volatiles from sour dough bread differed greatly from the other breads, especially in increased levels of aldehydes, acids, and certain esters. Unsaturated aldehydes, such as 2-hexenal and 2-heptenal, were most abundant in sour dough bread.Because flavor is an important aspect of bread quality, there have been a number of studies on volatiles in breads, as summarized in two extensive reviews Grosch 1991b, Grosch andSchieberle 1997). Essentially, studies on bread flavor have been conducted with laboratory-baked breads. In a recent study on laboratory-baked breads made from hard red winter and hard white winter wheats, we used a dynamic headspace (purge and trap) method coupled with gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy (GC-MS-IR) to identify volatiles (Chang et al 1995).The main objective of the current research was to qualitatively compare volatile profiles, especially major volatiles, among different types of commercial breads and, in addition, determine whether flavoring agents were added to enhance the flavors of some bread types. We used dynamic headspace and GC-MS-IR methods similar to those described in Chang et al (1995) to collect, separate, and identify volatiles.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Test 1Five types of commercial breads were obtained at two times from a local market, including white sandwich (WHT), Irish oatmeal (IOM), soft rye (RYE(S)), hearty rye with caraway seeds (RYE(H)), and sour dough (SDO). Strips of crumb or crust of each bread type (≈30 g total) were quickly placed in a special glass sample tube and mounted directly on a purge and trap instrument (Model LSC 2000, Tekmar Co., Cincinnati, OH) equipped with a sample heater and capillary interface module. Each sample was heated to 60°C, and volatiles were purged with helium at 40 mL/min onto a trap (Tenax-TA, Tekmar). After an 8-min sample purge, an 8-min dry purge was performed to remove excess moisture from the trap. The collected volatiles were thermally desorbed (200°C for 4 min) from the trap and transferred to the capillary interface module, where they were ...