Effect of enzymatic hydrolysis of arabinoxylan on the quality of frozen dough during the subfreezing process

Abstract BACKGROUND The objective of this investigation was to examine the impact of enzymatic hydrolysis of arabinoxylan (AX) on frozen dough quality under subfreezing conditions. The dough was subjected to freezing at −40 °C for 2 h and then stored at −9, −12, and −18 °C for 15 days. The water loss, freezable water content, water migration, and microstructure of the dough were measured. RESULTS The dough containing 0.8% cellulase enzymatically hydrolyzed AX (CAX) required the shortest duration when traversing the maximum ice‐crystal formation zone (6.5 min). The dough with xylanase enzymatically hydrolyzed AX (XAX) demonstrated a faster freezing rate than the dough with CAX. The inclusion of both XAX and CAX in the dough resulted in the lowest freezable water loss and reduced freezable water content and free‐water content levels, whereas the inclusion of xylanase‐cellulase combined with enzymatically hydrolyzed AX resulted in higher free‐water content levels. The textural properties of the subfreezing temperature dough were not significantly different from the dough stored at −18 °C and sometimes even approached or surpassed the quality observed in the control group rather than the dough stored at −18 °C. In addition, the gluten network structure remains well preserved in XAX‐ and CAX‐containing doughs with minimal starch damage. CONCLUSION The enzymatic hydrolysis of AX from wheat bran can be used as a useful additive to improve the quality of frozen dough. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.