Cryoprotectants for Frozen Dough: A Review

Abstract

Dough is the first step to create baked goods that are known for their variety of presentations, textures, and flavors, divided into different groups such as bread, cakes, cookies, pizza, and puff pastries, among others. These products are mainly made from cereals or cereal-based flours. Particularly, starch and gluten from wheat help develop the characteristic textures of these products. Since the ingredients used to make these products are susceptible to damage during storage, alternatives such as freezing have been sought. However, storage at temperatures below the freezing point of water often affects the sensory quality of the final product, especially by minimizing the development of the texture after baking, resulting in a food with a limited volume because of the reduction of the number of viable yeast cells, or by the presence of overlapping layers which do not develop in the baking stage of the puff pastry because of fat syneresis. To mitigate the negative effects of low temperatures, the application of cryoprotectants has been investigated in the industry to improve the quality of frozen dough. In consequence, this review analyzes the relevant advances for the frozen storage of dough for baked products based on the use of additives such as cryoprotectants and the scientific evidence available to date to indicate the perspectives toward improving dough in aspects related to the development of sensory attributes, their technological feasibility, and shelf life.