Creep-recovery of bread and correlation to sensory measurements of textural attributes

Bread crumb firmness has been studied extensively with many instruments. Ot her texture attributes like springiness, cohesiveness, and adhesiveness can be obtained through sensory analysis or by texture analysis using texture profile analysis. In this study, mechanical analysis (MA) was used to study the creep-recovery of several commercial breads. A descriptive panel was u sed to analyze these attributes and the results were correlated to MA measu rements. With use of a small probe force in the linear viscoelastic portion (50 mN), bread sensory firmness was correlated quadratically to MA creep d eformation (r(2) = 0.77) and sensory springiness was correlated quadratical ly to the combination of MA recovery percentage and its rate (r(2) = 0.82). With use of a large probe force in the nonlinear viscoelastic portion (600 mN), bread cohesiveness was correlated linearly to the MA recovery percent age (r(2) = 0.98). These results indicate that the creep-recovery test can be used to determine some texture attributes of bread crumb.