Study of the effect of slow freezing and frozen storage on sensory characteristics of Sangak and Barbari breads

The flat breads (Sangak, Barbari) have got great importances Iranian diet. The quality of these breads is very important from consumer point of view and the inferior quality would cause the bread loss in the country. The aim of this research was to study the effect of the freezing, freeze storage and freeze thaw on the quality of two flat breads. For this Sangak and Barbari were baked and packed on polyethylene bags and stored at -18˚C in household freezer. The breads were taken out after periods of one, two, and three weeks from the freezer and thawed at room temperature and heat condition (80˚C). The textural properties of the frozen breads were determined in DSC and TPA apartuses, and the sensory tests were done with scoring method by trained panels. The results of the DSC study showed that in the periods of 1, 2 and 3 weeks the retrogradation stopped on these breads and the amount of starch retrogradation in thawed breads (at room temperature and heat condition) did not show significant differences (P<0.001). The results from the TPA showed that the amount of force needed to make slices of the breads were significantly different (P<0.001). The results of sensory test in the case of thawed bread under heat condition had acceptable quality. From the result of this research it can conclude that the freezing can be used for preservation of these breads and thawing of them should be done under heat condition.