Leavened baked goods: Tradition and research

Sourdough, traditionally used in some bread and other baked goods productio n, is a very complex ecosystem in which the interactions between yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) influence the sensory quality and the shelf-lif e of the products. The understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of some i nterspecific relationships is thus of great importance. In this paper the A A. report some results of studies on the interactions between yeast and LAB based on fundamental metabolisms (carbohydrates, amino acids, CO productio n) and on the production of volatile; and antimicrobial compounds. The effe ct of various yeast-LAB associations on the staling and shelf-life of the b read produced with sourdough is also discussed.