Comparative study on the extent of staling in the common types of bread in Saudi Arabia

The extent of staling of the most popular wheat bread‐types in Saudi Arabia (Samauli, Mafrood, Burr and Tamees) were followed during 1, 2 and 3 days storage periods in polyethylene bags at room temperature. Measurements included loss of moisture, total water solubles, swelling power, soluble starch, amylograph characteristics and sensory freshness evaluation. After one day storage period. Tamees bread had a faster degree of staling followed by Burr and Mafrood in comparison to Samauli and white pan breads. Both white pan and Samauli breads remained fresh to some degree while Mafrood and Burr breads were slightly stale and Tamees was stale. After 3 days storage period, all types of bread were rated very stale except Samauli and pan which was rated only stale.

Swelling power, total water solubles, soluble starch and amylograph maximum viscosity tended to decrease as the storage period increased. Sensory freshness scores of all breads correlated positively with swelling power, total solubles and soluble starch, and correlated negatively with the storage period; while swelling power and maximum viscosity of bread samples correlated negatively with the storage period.

Key words:

• Staling
• Saudi breads
• bread storage
• bread freshness