Alveolar distribution in french rolls made using taro mucilage

Abstract

Emulsifiers are responsible for forming a dough that contributes to the retention of gluten in alveoli, the gas produced by the yeast, thus increasing the volume and softness of the bread. There are indications that hydrocolloids, such as taro mucilage (Colocasia esculenta), can present similar characteristics to emulsifiers. The presence of arabinose and galactose in the taro mucilage is responsible for the formation of a complex with proteins, called Proteoglycan arabinogalactan, that could present substantial emulsifying power, consequently favouring gas retention in the alveoli. Thus, the quantity, distribution and size of the alveoli must be analysed for the effective quality control of the breadmaking process, and this is therefore recommended. Conventional statistical methods are already used regularly in analyses of these variables, although spatial statistics have not been used for this purpose. In this paper, the authors defend the application of univariate point processes that have not been applied to the analysis of the spatial distribution of the alveoli in French bread made with taro mucilage. The results showed that these methods made it possible to characterize the spatial distribution of alveoli in French bread, demonstrating that the use of taro mucilage provided a good alveolar distribution in French type bread.