Deterioration mechanisms and quality improvement methods in frozen dough: An updated review

The utilization of frozen dough technology presents a compelling solution for prolonging the shelf life of flour products and enhancing production efficiency. This technology has been widely applied and continuously studied. However, the intricate production process of frozen dough introduces a persistent challenge—freezing damage—that impacts different components of frozen dough like starch, gluten protein, yeast, and lipid. This damage leads to a decline in dough quality. This review offers a comprehensive summary of changes occurring in different components in frozen dough from a multiscale perspective, specifically starch, gluten protein, lipid, and yeast. The process improvement methods involving from the main materials to the end products in the actual production process of frozen dough have been discussed. These encompass the selection and optimization of main materials, improvement of yeast freeze tolerance, additives, frozen processes (freezing, storage, and thawing), and dough-making processes. The selection of wheat flour with high gluten strength and the use of composite flour with high dietary fiber can improve the freezing resistance of gluten–starch matrix. The freeze tolerance of yeast can be improved through hybridization, genetic engineering, pretreatment with polycationic peptide (ε-poly-l-lysine), microencapsulation technology, and the addition of anti-freeze agents. In addition to improving the use-effect of different additives, effective methods of obtaining additives and synergistic combinations of multiple additives are in focus. Different frozen doughs need to choose an appropriate freezing rate. The novel physical field-assisted freezing technology has a positive effect on reducing freezing damage. For frozen storage, the subfreezing temperature (−12 °C) is more environmentally friendly and the lower storage temperature is more stable. The innovative microwave thawing has a poor application effect for frozen dough presently. Innovative dough-making processes such as vacuum mixing, heat treatment before dough freezing (part-baked, par-steamed, and preheated dough), and edible coatings are worth exploring.