Development of a highly efficient ion-ozone cavitation technology for accelerated bread production

Solving the problem of healthy human nutrition is one of the most important tasks of our time. Grain processing products meet the requirements of good nutrition as well as possible. In this regard, there is a need to create a wide range of new grain products that allow the rational use of all valuable natural components, with a significant reduction in production costs^1,2.

That is why, in the practice of grain processing, considerable attention is paid to the introduction of progressive methods and high-performance equipment in order to increase the efficiency of using grain during its processing^3,4.

Currently, the issue of expanding the range of bakery products remains relevant. The primary role is played by increasing the taste and nutritional properties of bread while maintaining its low price. This is achieved by improving the technology of baking by changing the parameters of grain preparation, the degree and method of grain grinding, the variety of recipes due to the inclusion of other grains and other components during kneading, and improving the technology for loosening the dough and the conditions for baking bread^5,6.

All over the world there is a generally accepted international classification of wheat quality, which systematizes grain crops in various aspects. According to this systematization, grain, depending on various indicators, is divided into six main classes. The first three classes (I, II and III) belong to valuable varieties of wheat and are used in the flour-grinding and baking industry^7,8,9. Also, the grain of this group is exported. We used grade 3 wheat in our research work.

Scientists have investigated kneading dough in a vacuum¹⁰ and in an atmosphere of air^11,12, oxygen¹³, nitrogen^14,15, hydrogen¹⁶ and carbon dioxide¹⁷. Tests have shown that significant amounts of gas from the atmosphere in which kneading takes place can be mechanically trapped (occluded) in the dough. It has been established that if the dough is kneaded in an atmosphere of air enriched with oxygen, then the gas bubbles formed in the dough during kneading are a factor of the oxidative effect of oxygen on the corresponding components of the dough, especially on its protein–proteinase complex^18,19.

However, none of these methods satisfy the producers of bread products, complicating the process of making dough and baking bread. Therefore, we propose an accelerated method for preparing bread products using ion-ozone cavitation technology.

The essence of accelerated dough preparation methods is the intensification of microbiological, colloidal and biochemical processes occurring during dough maturation, as a result of:

• enhanced mechanical processing of the dough during kneading;

• the use of acidifying or activated semi-finished products;

• increasing the temperature of the dough;

• increasing the dosage of biological disintegrants.

The advantages of accelerated methods are the reduction to a minimum of the number of containers for dough fermentation, the possibility of operating enterprises in two shifts and with a part-time working week, a reduction of flour costs during fermentation, improvement of production culture, etc.^20,21.

In recent years, ozone, ions, ozone and ion-ozone technologies, which have a number of advantages over special additives and technologies, have been increasingly used in the food industry. Ozone treatment is used to treat grain crops and their processed products for the purpose of disinfecting and extending the shelf life^22,23,24,25. Ionic treatment is used to disinfect and purify water^26,27. The use of ion-ozone technology agents with many useful properties (bactericidal, redox, etc.) in food production is the latest trend and is a promising direction in food production. For example, it was used to disinfect legumes, oilseeds^28,29 and sugar beets³⁰. Currently, scientists at the Almaty Technological University are conducting research on the use of ozonized, ionized and ion-ozonized water in the production of flour, bakery, pasta and flour confectionery products from wheat flour and flour from a mixture of wheat, grain, oilseeds and legumes that improve the quality, safety and environmental friendliness of the finished products.

One of the promising technologies that provides a significant intensification of production processes, and opens up a wide range of opportunities for expanding the range of grain, bakery and other types of products, is cavitation processing of raw materials, which makes it possible to obtain grain suspensions—products with a certain set of physicochemical and organoleptic properties.

The proposed technology is based on the physical phenomenon of cavitation, which is generated either by ultrasound (acoustic) or hydraulic impulses (rotational). Acoustic cavitation units are already being used in various branches of the food industry.

Literally translated from Latin, cavitation is emptiness, the formation and collapse of microscopic bubbles in a liquid under the influence of external forces. The most famous effect of this phenomenon leads to the destruction of the metal parts of turbines, propellers and other mechanisms operating in water at variable pressure. But it is precisely this that has become a powerful factor in technological transformation in food production^31,32.

The external manifestation of the phenomenon is that the water subjected to cavitation acquires some of the properties of boiling water, while remaining completely cold. Like boiling water, it becomes a powerful solvent and is able to actively combine with proteins and other natural high-molecular-weight components of agricultural raw materials. But, while remaining cold, unlike real boiling water, such water no longer destroys or changes their natural properties, which is very important for the food industry and medicine^33,34.

‘Cold boiling water’ has now turned out to be very suitable for the production of feed for farm animals and poultry. Cavitation treatment of water used to moisten the feed mixture improves its digestibility, disinfects it and, surprisingly, increases its total volume. And the cavitation treatment of drinking water for animals during fattening provides an increase in their weight gain, reduces the length of the fattening process itself and sharply reduces disease incidence and mortality of livestock.

In milling production, cavitation treatment of water used to moisten grain sharply reduces the time it takes to prepare it for grinding. The Vologda Bakery team has achieved amazing results in their work using the new technology. With the help of emulsions of cavitation-treated water in vegetable oil, they managed to stop using expensive so-called emulsifiers and baking improvers, which are unsafe for human health, in baking bread. The use of ‘cold boiling water’ in the food industry, among other things, reduces bacterial contamination^35,36,37.

The preparation of bakery dough with cavitation-activated water, accompanied by hydration structuring of gluten proteins, makes it possible to increase the specific volume of bread, increase its elasticity, slow down hardening and reduce the use of bakery improvers. The processing of sugar–salt solutions in a cavitation reactor before mixing with the dough makes it possible to reduce the salt and sugar content in bread by 15–20% without changing the taste and nutritional value of the product. Cavitation technology makes it possible to produce fat emulsions for dough only from vegetable fats and water, since in the process of their preparation, partial hydrolysis of fats occurs, with the formation of di- and monoglycerides which are natural emulsifiers^38,39,40.

Ion-ozone processing of products affects the biological and physiological effects on development and vital activity; it also produces a disinfecting effect, increases the biological value of bread and increases the shelf life of finished bread by reducing the negative influence of external factors (increasing the safety of grain, reducing factors leading to diseases of bread, etc.) on the storage of ready-made bread^41,42.

The purpose of this study was to develop a technology for making bread from class 3 wheat using ion-ozone cavitation technology.