Effects of ultrasound assisted dough fermentation on the quality of steamed bread

Ultrasound is used to enhance the fermentation of wheat dough to produce steamed bread. The quality of steamed bread stored for different time was analyzed using the texture analyzer. Ultrasound treatment had significant impact on the hardness and specific volume of steamed bread (p < 0.05). Compared with the control, the hardness of fresh steamed bread reduced by 22.4% and the specific volume increased by 6.7% at ultrasound power density of 23.08 W/L and ultrasonic time of 40 min. During the storage of steamed bread, the hardness with ultrasound was remarkably lower than that of the control, and the difference was even more evident with prolonging storage time. The springiness with ultrasound was lower than that of the control when storage time was no higher than 48 h. Generally, ultrasound assisted dough fermentation can improve the quality of the steamed bread.