In wheat varieties, gluten properties and enzyme levels deteriorate in the climatic conditions, sunn pest, stocking period, the gluten properties and enzyme levels in the flours, which also have negativities from seeds and agriculture. This type of flour, which causes dough and bread properties and values ​​to be offered for consumption, has to be put into a standard in flour mills. Therefore, it has become a developer’s use requirement in a factory. The appropriate type and amount of oxidant and enzyme mixtures in flour improvers’ ingredients help the flour to achieve a certain standard. We need to have a very good knowledge of the properties of enzyme and oxidant units in flour. These amounts are determined by the engineers in the R&D departments. The engineers in this R&D department are in academic cooperation with universities and international enzyme producer companies located around the world by constantly following the sectoral developments at the global level.

Flour improvers are a mechanism that continues to support the work of the industry at full speed by offering flour and bread improvers with high tolerance in order to facilitate the work of the Flour industrialist and to ensure that the flour that goes to the end consumer is satisfactory.

The most common flour improvers used in flour mills are oxidants and enzymes. These substances accelerate the fermentation by regulating the pH and enzyme activity of the dough and increase its resistance to processing. Since freshly ground fresh flours cause undesirable quality dough production, millers used to leave the flour in warehouses for 4 to 8 weeks and then ripen it. The great demand for bread in our country, where a grain-based diet is common, causes the rapid introduction of flour to the market and an increase in the speed of bread production. Therefore, the addition of flour improvers, which are used as dough improvers, has become necessary.

The most commonly used flour improvers in the Flour Industry are oxidant (ascorbic acid) and enzymes.

Ascorbic acid, which is used in almost every field in the food industry, is an antioxidant substance. It is used as a flour improver to increase flour quality in the flour industry. In order to ensure that the high molecular weight proteins (YMP) and low molecular weight proteins (DMP) that make up the glutenin structure separately combine with each other, DMPs must be oxidized with a strong oxidizing agent. Thus, it is ensured that they form a more uniform protein structure. When this structure is formed, the flour becomes mature and has the desired properties.

Advantages of ascorbic acid in flour;

 Strengthening the weak gluten structure

 To shorten the resting period in flour and to ensure maturation.

 To provide elasticity in the dough structure

 To provide blast furnace spatter

 To increase the volume of the end products

 To provide good blade opening in bread and to help the formation of homogeneous pore structure.

Changes that occur with the addition of enzymes to bread dough,

 A certain amount of starch hydrolysis

 A certain amount of gluten hydrolysis to increase machinability

 Providing sugars for fermentation

 A certain amount of lipid peroxidation

 Dough strengthener

 It can be summarized as retrogradation and reduction of shell hardness.

Alpha Amylase Enzyme: It converts starch into fermentable sugars, CO2 and ethyl alcohol, helping fermentation and crust development take place. It is one of the most important enzymes used in bread making. The fermentation development of dough is highly dependent on amylase activity. Starch damaged during grinding is hydrolyzed as a result of alpha and beta amylase activity during kneading and fermentation processes. Damaged starch is broken down into malto dextrins by alpha amylase enzyme and malto dextrins into free maltose by beta amylase enzyme. Intracellular enzymes in yeast also break down maltose into glucose. By using the simple sugars (glucose and maltose) formed in this way, yeast creates the carbon dioxide gas and alcohols necessary for the dough to rise. It indirectly affects elasticity. In addition to fermentation, it provides the formation of sugars necessary for the development of bread crust structure. The released gas expands at the oven temperature, enabling the bread to turn into a more voluminous, smooth-structured, easily digestible food item. It extends the shelf life of the bakery product as a result of starch redogradation with the addition of amylase in the baking phase.

Hemicellulase Enzyme: Flour contains about 2-3% polysaccharide pentosans except starch. Pentosans are divided into two groups as water-soluble and insoluble, and the water-insoluble group is known as hemicellulose. With the hemicellulase enzyme, hemicellulose is converted into water-soluble large molecular weight polysaccharides. These polysaccharides regulate the intestinal flora and buffer the growth of harmful bacteria. Thus, the amount of harmful metabolites released by these microorganisms to the environment is reduced, and the risk of colon cancer is minimized. The hemicellulase mechanism of action, pentazones bind approximately 23% of the water added to the dough. With the addition of enzyme to the dough, endoxylanase breaks the glycosidic bonds in the dough from their random places, reducing the degree of polymerization of the polysaccharide, thus releasing the water held in the dough. Thus, the dough has a softer texture. The use of hemicellulase regulates the distribution of water in dough and bread, thus making the dough softer and easier to process in the machine. Increases fermentation tolerance, baking stability, oven spatter and bread volume. It positively affects the crumb color, pore structure, texture and stability.

Glucose Oxidase Enzyme: Ferulic acid and tyrosine are involved in the cross-linking process. H2O2, formed by the reaction catalyzed by glucose oxidase, acts as a substrate for endogenous peroxidase in wheat flour. It is also thought that H2O2, which is formed as a result of the enzyme’s activity, catalyzes the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid (L-AA), which is used as an additive, to dehydro ascorbic acid, which has an oxidative function. However, this reaction is also catalyzed by the enzyme L-AA oxidase. This enables the dough to become stronger, easier to handle, better holding of the gas formed during fermentation, an increase in dough stability and an increase in the volume of the final product, the bread.

Bread making from rice flour is difficult due to the absence of gluten. However, bread-making properties can be improved by modifying rice flour proteins with glucose oxidase. This enzyme regulates dough viscoelastic properties, volume and texture.

Lipase Enzyme: Polar lipids affect the bread volume positively, while non-polar lipids affect it negatively. Lipolytic enzymes break down triglycerides into diglycerides, monoglycerides and free fatty acids. Hydrolysis of triglycerides reduces the proportion of nonpolar lipids that adversely affect bread quality, improves the stability of gas cells. Thus, it increases the bread volume. Lipolytic enzymes also have effects on the shelf life of bread.

It is found in small amounts with lipids in cereals and in significant amounts in legumes. It oxidizes carotenoid substances and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the presence of air oxygen, forming free radicals and hydroperoxides. Since the lipoxidase in active soy flour bleaches the natural yellow pigments of the flour by oxidizing it, it is widely used in bakery. However, this function of lipoxidase is not desired in the production of pasta and semolina, and it is aimed to obtain bright yellow pasta by taking measures to restrict lipoxidase activity. Hydroperoxides formed by the effect of lipoxidase increase disulfide bonds in kneading. Thus, dough strength and bread flavor improve, oxidant is not added, the pore structure becomes thinner, and bread volume increases.

Protease Enzyme: By kneading the dough, gliadin and glutenin, which form gluten, are separated from each other, while gluten becomes straight chain, gliadin is released. Straight chain glutenin becomes parallel to each other and is connected to each other by disulfide bonds. Thus gluten elasticity, ability to bend and bend; the dough surface acquires a smooth structure. Especially in strong hard wheat flour, protease is used to break down the gluten structure and increase the dough softness and elasticity. Proteases hydrolyze proteins by breaking peptide bonds. With the addition of protease, dough viscosity, resistance to kneading, kneading time are reduced, and viscoelastic properties are improved. In biscuit, wafer and kadayif production, the use of proteases has become widespread to break the disulfide bonds in order to weaken the gluten, increase its elongation ability, and reduce the viscosity and elasticity of the dough.

Transglutaminase Enzyme, provides cross-linking of albumin, globulin and glutenin fraction from wheat proteins. Glutaraldehyde is also an effective cross-linking agent. However, it can only cross-link albumin and globulin fractions. Transglutaminase increases the glutenin macropolymer (GMP) content, which is a measure of dough quality, in pastry and bread doughs, increases dough strength and bread volume, reduces dough extensibility and stickiness, facilitates machining, improves crumb structure. The validity of these effects was determined for transglutaminase and glutaraldehyde used in bread and croissants. However, while glutaraldehyde was not very effective in the volume of croissants, transglutaminase increased.

In order to meet customer expectations and satisfaction and to ensure the final product standard, the variety of enzymes used in different product groups of industrial bakery products is increasing.