Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

In¯uence of the freezing condition on the baking performances

of French frozen dough
M. Havet *, M. Mankai, A. Le Bail
Dept. G
enie des Proc
ed
es Alimentaires, ENITIAA, BP 82225, Rue de la G
eraudiere, F-44322 Nantes Cedex 3, France
Received 15 October 1999; accepted 22 February 2000

Abstract
Freezing a€ects the baking performance of frozen bread dough. The volume of the dough during proo®ng is related to two main
factors. First, yeast is a€ected by freezing. A slow freezing rate is usually recommended in the literature so as to preserve its activity.
Second, the gluten network is damaged during freezing. This latter phenomenon a€ects the ability of the dough to retain CO2 and
thus minimizes the bread volume. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of these two phenomena. Sticks
of French bread dough were frozen under selected conditions. A fermentometer was used to measure CO2 volume during proo®ng.
The gluten network performance was evaluated from the dough volume variation during proo®ng and from the baked volume. The
results showed that yeast activity was strongly related to the freezing rate and to the location inside the dough. Ó 2000 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Freezing; Freezing rate; Bread dough; Bread quality

1. Introduction et al., 1998, Havet & Le Bail, 1999). These observations

Several studies related to bread dough freezing are
available in the recent literature. The decrease of yeast
activity (Inoue & Bushuk, 1991; Neyreneuf & Delpuech,
1993) and the damage to the gluten network (Berland,
1993) due to freezing are the most important phenom-
ena causing a decline in the baking performance of
frozen dough. Yeast activity is a€ected by sub-zero
temperatures (Mazur & Schmidt 1968). An optimum
freezing rate is supposed to exist. Nevertheless, the
matrix in which the yeast is embedded and its water
content is supposed to be as important as the freezing
rate. Indeed, freezing of yeast embedded in dough re-
sults in a more signi®cant decrease in its activity than
direct freezing of compressed yeast. From previous
studies (Neyreneuf & Delpuech 1993; Le Bail, Pasco,
Meric & Cahagnier, 1996; Le Bail, Havet & Pasco, 1998)
it appears that a slow freezing rate is preferable to pre-
serve yeast activity. A high freezing rate and a low yeast
activity were observed at core of cylindrical dough
pieces whereas lower freezing rate and a higher yeast
activity were noticed at surface of these samples (Le Bail
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: havet@enitiaa-nantes.fr (M. Havet).
0260-8774/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 0 - 9
on the freezing rate are in agreement with the heat
transfer theory in cylindrical geometry which demon-
strates that the velocity of the freezing front is the lowest
at mid-radius and tends to in®nity at the core (Plank,
1941). Temperature oscillations during storage were
shown to be as important as the storage duration (Le
Bail, Grinand, Le Cleach, Martinez & Quilin, 1999).
Several other parameters might in¯uence yeast activity.
A 5±6% trehalose content was shown to be the maxi-
mum level for improvement of yeast cryoresistance
(Meric, Lambert-Guilosis, Neyreneuf & Richard-Mo-
lard, 1997). Yeast strain choice is also an important
criterion (Oda, Uno & Otha, 1986). It has been shown
that prefreezing fermentation reduces the cryoresistance
of yeast (Kline and Sugihara, 1968). Glutathion showed
a negative e€ect on the rheology of dough (Wolt &
DÕAppolonia, 1984). The presence of dead yeast in the
dough did not modify signi®cantly the rheology of the
dough (Autio & Sinda, 1992). The changing of the
rheology of the dough after freezing might be explained
by temperature ¯uctuations during storage (Berland,
1993). From di€erent experiments, a decrease in the
extensibility of the dough subjected to freezing could be
observed (Varriano-Marston, Hsu & Mahdi, 1980; Wolt
& DÕAppolonia, 1984) and also the opposite e€ect
(Inoue & Bushuk, 1991). The e€ects of dough shape and
140 M. Havet et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145

of sheeting-molding conditions were evaluated (Gelinas,
Deaudelin & Gressier, 1995). They concluded that
sheeting-molding conditions had no signi®cant e€ect on
the stability of the frozen-thawed dough whereas the
dough shape was in¯uential: round dough pieces were
less satisfactory than slabs and cylinders.
This literature review is self explanatory about the
complexity and the synergistic or antagonist e€ects of all
the parameters which determine baking performances of
frozen dough. The objective of this study is to evaluate
the relative importance of the two main phenomena
involved in the decrease of the baking performances
(yeast activity and rheology of the dough) from selected
experiments.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Mixing
The ¯our was purchased from a local milling factory
(Nantes, France) as ¯our milled from pure wheat culti-
var. Samples of ¯our were analysed according to stan-
dard methods (Table 1). The dough was prepared from 3
kg of ¯our, 1.65 kg water, 66 g salt and 75 g compressed
yeast. Dough ingredients were previously stored at 4°C.
Mixing was done in a 3 kg VMI (Montaigu, France)
dough mixer for 4 min at 40 rpm and 10 min at 80 rpm.
In order to enhance the distribution of yeast in the
dough compressed yeast (Gist Brocades, France) was
previously diluted in the water and was incorporated at
the beginning of mixing. As recommended, salt was
added after 9 min of mixing (Br ummer, 1995). Dough
temperature was about 15°C at the end of mixing.
Portions of dough (200 g) were cylindrically shaped (5
cm diameter). 22 samples were obtained from each
Table 1
Flour Analysis (Grands Moulins de Paris-France)
batch: 8 sticks were used for evaluating the reference
value (non-frozen dough) and 14 unwrapped sticks were
frozen.
2.2. Freezing and storage
Freezing experiments were conducted in an air blast
freezer at )20°C on three di€erent days using three
di€erent air speeds (1, 2 and 3 m/s) corresponding to
conditions # 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Samples were laid
on a metallic grid. K type thermocouples (0.1 mm di-
ameter, OMEGA-USA) and a data logger (SA32-AOIP,
France) were used to measure the temperature changes
during freezing at the centre, mid radius and surface of
the sample (Fig. 1). Samples were removed from the
freezer when the core temperature was )19°C. Then they
were wrapped and placed in an insulated box (10 cm
polystyrene) in a cold room at )20°C for 7 days. A self-
powered data logger (Hamster BRAIVE Instrument-
FRANCE) was placed in the insulated box to measure
the ambient temperature. Temperature oscillations were
less than ‹0.4°C. Each freezing condition was carried
out three times.
2.3. Thawing and preparation of dough for analysis
After this 7 days storage, thawing was carried out in
two steps. First at a rate of 1°C/min in a temperature
controlled cabinet (Ta ˆ )4°C). At this temperature, the
texture of dough was similar to that of butter, which
helps in processing, and cutting dough pieces. From the
14 dough pieces, 10 were cut into 5 cm long slices. In
order to select parts of the dough where the freezing
front propagation was radial (one-dimensional heat
transfer), the two extremities of each stick were rejected.
Using two coaxial cylindrical pastry cutters, they were
subdivided into three concentric pieces: centre, mid

Property Standard Value

method

Ash content (% dry matter) NF V03720 0.55%

Protein content (% dry matter) NX 5 7/MS 10.20%
Moisture (% dry matter) NF ISO 712 15.40%
Elasticity P (mmH2 O) Alveograph 100
NF ISO
5530-4
Swelling index G (cm3 ) 15.3
Flour strength W (10ÿ4 J) 206
Extensibility L (mm) 47.17
P/L 2.12
Gluten (mechanical extraction) ICC 137
Glutomatic
and Glutork
Wet gluten 25.50%
Dry gluten 9.14% Fig. 1. Evolution of the temperature at three locations during freezing
of dough (condition #1 and condition #3).
 M. Havet et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145
radius and surface. Thus, about 300 g of dough at )4°C
was obtained from each of these three sections.
To provide materials for the analyses described be-
low, samples were di€erently processed but for all of
them, thawing was ®nished at 4°C during 2 h.
2.4. Yeast activity
The gassing power was measured on fresh dough and
thawed dough for the three sections. 100 g of each
sample at an initial temperature of +4°C were put in
fermentometers for proo®ng at 28°C for 280 min (Bur-
rows & Harrison, 1959). This long duration takes into
account the time necessary for stabilisation of the dough
temperature and for rupture of the gluten network
(dough open porosity point). These fermentometers
measure the CO2 volume emitted by the yeast. The
dough volume was measured separately from dough
pieces coming from the same batch using a sterilised
¯ask (diameter: 5 cm) with a cursor applied onto the
dough. The vertical displacement of the cursor is related
to the increase in the dough volume. Triplicate samples
of each dough pieces were used.
2.5. Dough rheology
The dough rheology was studied on the fresh and
thawed samples. Uniaxial deformation was used to
evaluate the rheology of the dough (Bagley & Chris-
tianson, 1986; Weipert, 1990). A JJ-LLOYD traction±
compression machine was used. Samples of dough were
shaped into small disks (diameter: 4 cm, height: 1.2 cm,
weight: 23.5 g). The compression, at the rate of 1 cm
minÿ1 , lasted 30 s. and the following relaxation was
Fig. 2. Uniaxial compression experiment.
Table 2
Yeast activity (107 CFU/g of dough) according to the freezing condition
Reference: non-frozen dough
Center of the dough 8:8  0:6
Surface of the dough 8:8  0:6
141
logged over a period of 30 s. The di€erence between the
maximum force and the remaining force after relax-
ation, dF, was used to evaluate the dough rheology
(Fig. 2). Dough temperature was controlled and was
6°C  1°C. Each experimental point was obtained from
the mean of ®ve measurements.
2.6. Yeast survival counting
For the fresh and thawed pieces of dough, yeast cells
were counted after the dilution of 10 g of dough in 90 g
of a physiological solution (culture medium of tryptone-
salt). Microbial analysis was carried out on diluted so-
lutions; 0.1 cm3 of a diluted solution was placed on Petri
dishes containing gelose (cloramphenicol). Incubation
lasted 48 h at 26°C. The result was expressed by UFC
per gram of dough. Each experimental point was the
mean of three countings.
2.7. Bread volume
The dough was proofed 1 h at 28°C, 75% RH prior to
baking. Baking of non-cut samples and fresh dough
were then carried out in an oven (So®nor, Perenchies-
France) at a temperature of 220°C for 20 min. After a
one hour post-baking period, the bread volume was
measured using the method of rapeseed displacement.
The speci®c volume of bread was obtained by dividing
the weight of seeds by the bread volume. Each experi-
mental point was the mean of four measurements.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. In¯uence of the freezing condition on yeast activity
Yeast activity was evaluated as a function of the
freezing conditions and of the location (see Table 2).
Figs. 3±6 show the evolution of the CO2 and the dough
volumes at the centre and at the surface of the dough in
freezing conditions #1 and #3. As results from condi-
tions #1 and #2 are very close, results of condition #2
are not depicted. From these ®gures, it is obvious that
freezing greatly a€ects the CO2 and dough volumes,
nevertheless a more detailed analysis reveals various
trends. Figs. 4 and 6 show that the CO2 volume during
proo®ng was similar for each freezing condition at the
surface location (353  5 cm3 CO2 /100 g dough after 240
Condition #1 Condition #2 Condition #3
8:6  0:5 7:8  0:6 6:4  0:7
7:7  0:6 7:4  0:6 7:3  0:6
142 M. Havet et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145
Fig. 3. CO2 and dough volumes versus time at the centre of the dough
in condition #1.
Fig. 4. CO2 and dough volumes versus time at the surface of the dough
in condition #1.
Fig. 5. CO2 and dough volumes versus time at the centre of the dough
in condition #3.
min). On the other hand, Figs. 3 and 5 show that the
CO2 volume was decreasing with increasing air velocity
when considering the centre location (reduction by 11%
between conditions #1 and #3). This trend was already
observed on similar geometry and air speeds combined
with di€erent air temperatures ()20°C, 1 m/s, )30°C,
3 m/s and )40°C, 4 m/s). In these latter conditions, the
di€erence between the yeast activity at the centre and the
surface was more pronounced with increasing freezing
rates (Le Bail et al., 1998). In the present work for which
air temperature was maintained at )20°C, the di€erence
can be attributed to di€erences in freezing rates. Since
Fig. 6. CO2 and dough volumes versus time at the surface of the dough
in condition #3.
over 90% of the freezable water is frozen at )20°C
(Chen, 1985), the most plausible explanation comes
from freezing rate. Indeed, temperature evolution above
)20°C will cause minor modi®cation to the size and the
location of the ice crystals. To verify this hypothesis,
freezing rates (Fr) were calculated as the ratio of a
temperature di€erence and the respective duration (In-
ternational Institute of Refrigeration, 1986)
T2 ÿ T1
Fr…r† ˆ :
t2 ÿ t1
In this formula, a beginning criterion (subscript 1) and
an ending criterion (subscript 2) for freezing must be
de®ned. Previous studies demonstrated that the freezing
rate value is dependent on these criteria (Le Bail et al.,
1996). In this work, the freezing temperature and the
®nal temperature were chosen as the beginning and
ending temperatures (T1 ˆ ÿ3:5 C and T2 ˆ ÿ18 C).
Table 3 gives the freezing rate values according to the
extreme freezing conditions (conditions #1 and #3) and
the location. It appears that in condition #1 the freezing
rate is independent of the location whereas it is greatly
dependent on condition #3. In this latter condition, the
freezing rate is the highest at the centre. This shows that
the di€erences in yeast activity inside dough can be at-
tributed to the variation of the freezing rate and so to ice
crystallisation.
To validate this hypothesis, the local cooling velocity
during freezing (dT/dt) was calculated from the evolu-
tion of temperature (Fig. 1) for two freezing conditions
(conditions #1 and #3). This cooling rate is plotted
versus the temperature at the center and the surface of
Table 3
Freezing rate (K minÿ1 ) according to the freezing condition and the
location
Surface Mid-radius Centre
Cond. #1 )0.17 )0.17 )0.17
Cond. #3 )0.35 )0.35 )0.43
 M. Havet et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145
Fig. 7. Local cooling velocity during freezing in condition #1 and
condition #3 according to the location (center, surface) and the tem-
perature.
the dough (Fig. 7). This ®gure shows ®rstly that the
cooling velocity is smaller in condition #1 than in con-
dition #3 whatever the temperature. On the other hand,
this cooling velocity does not depend on the location in
condition #1 whereas it is greatly dependent in condi-
tion #3. So, it clearly appears that in this latter condi-
tion, the cooling rate is much higher at the center of the
dough than at the surface. This phenomenon is very
observable during the maximum crystallisation interval
between )3.5°C and )12°C.
A comparison between CO2 volume and dough vol-
ume during proo®ng was made. A long proo®ng dura-
tion was necessary to observe the dough open porosity
point. A plateau was observed for dough volume after
260 min in all cases indicating the rupture of the gluten
network which was unable to retain CO2 . The corre-
sponding volume appeared to be function of the freezing
rate and of the location. Figs. 3±5 reveal that the same
plateau level was obtained for surface location in con-
ditions #1 and #3 and for center location in condition
#1 (rupture volume ˆ 354 cm3 CO2 /100 g). This result is
similar to yeast activity results previously discussed. For
the center location in the freezing condition #3, the
rupture volume is only 325 cm3 CO2 /100 g (Fig. 6). This
result showed that the damage to the gluten network can
be related to the freezing rate. No speci®c study related
to this aspect was found in the literature.
Yeast activity obtained from counting in Petri dishes
is presented in Table 2. The di€erences, which were
measured, cannot be considered as signi®cant due to the
experimental error in colony counting. Nevertheless, a
trend corresponding to a slight decrease of yeast via-
bility can be observed with increasing freezing rate.
3.2. In¯uence of the freezing condition on rheology
The results obtained from uniaxial compression are
presented in Fig. 8. Anova analyses were used to study
143
Fig. 8. Di€erence between the maximum force and the relaxation force
according to the freezing condition (Ref.: non-frozen dough).
the in¯uence of the freezing conditions on the dough
rheology with Statgraphics Plus version 3.0 (Statistical
graphics corporation, 1997). There was a statistically
signi®cant di€erence between the means at the 95%
con®dence level (P value < 0.05). One can see that the
di€erence between the maximum force and the residual
force after relaxation is increased by 33% between
freezing conditions #1 and #3. This result can be in-
terpreted as a reduction in the elasticity of the dough
with increasing freezing rate. The cause of direct change
in gluten can be explained by disruption of certain glu-
ten bonds by the mechanical action of ice crystals. This
explanation matches the results obtained in the analysis
of the porosity of the dough (plateau in Figs. 3±6) in
that the gluten network is highly damaged by a high
freezing rate.
3.3. In¯uence of the freezing condition on the bread
volume
The speci®c volume of the bread as a function of the
freezing conditions is presented in Fig. 9. Anova ana-
lyses were used to study the in¯uence of the freezing
conditions on the bread volume with Statgraphics Plus
version 3.0 (Statistical graphics corporation 1997).
There was a statistically signi®cant di€erence between
the means at the 95% con®dence level (P value < 0.05).
These results con®rm that freezing greatly a€ects the
bread volume, which is reduced by at least 20%.
Moreover, a constant decrease in the speci®c bread
volume is observed with increasing freezing rate (9%
decrease between conditions #1 and #3). This result also
matches the previous observations (see Fig. 9).
144 M. Havet et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 45 (2000) 139±145
Fig. 9. Bread volume according to the freezing condition (Ref.: non-
frozen dough).
4. Conclusion
Yeast activity and dough rheology were evaluated in
using several comparative methods. Cylindrically
shaped dough sticks were tested showing a di€erence in
both yeast activity and dough rheology with increasing
freezing rate. These results con®rmed previous obser-
vations about the decline in baking performance (Inoue
& Bushuk, 1991; Neyreneuf & Delpuech, 1993) and the
loss of dough elasticity (Berland, 1993) with high
freezing rates. Moreover, this work demonstrated that
yeast activity was always higher at the surface than at
the center thus con®rming previous results (Le Bail et
al., 1998; Havet & Le Bail, 1999). Colony counting of
yeast tended to con®rm the results obtained from CO2
volume measurement. The major ®nding lies in that it
has been clearly shown that the appearance of the open
porosity in the dough during freezing was a€ected by the
freezing rate. This work showed that, as expected by
other researchers (Inoue & Bushuk, 1991; Kulp, 1995),
ice crystallisation seems to be the origin of dough
weakening. A higher freezing rate yielded a more dam-
aged gluten network. This result showed a synergistic
e€ect of the freezing rate on both yeast activity
and dough rheology and therefore on bread volume.
Additional experiments and analysis using higher
freezing rates are planned to con®rm these results.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Maryvonne Pasco and Pierre Can-
toni for technical support.
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