Mitigating Bread Staling and Enhancing Nutritional Value: The Role ofWheat Bran and Fiber-Rich Additives in Bread Formulation

This paper aims to explore the multifaceted process of bread staling, which leads to a gradual loss of freshnessand contributes significantly to global food waste. It discusses the primary factors responsible for staling, includingstarch transformation, starch–gluten interactions, and moisture redistribution. The addition of fiber to breadformulations, which significantly modifies dough and final product properties, production processes, and stalingdynamics, is examined in detail. The role of wheat bran (WB), a by-product of wheat grain milling, as a rich sourceof dietary fiber (up to 45 g/100 g) and other bioactive compounds such as proteins and phenolic compounds, ishighlighted. The impact of these phenolic compounds on the antioxidant content of bread, their interaction with gluten,and their effect on delaying starch gelatinization and staling are reviewed. Additionally, the influence of wheat fiberfractions, depending on their composition and particle size, on bread quality through enhanced water retention capacityis analyzed. The role of pentosans, which constitute approximately 30% of bran, in improving loaf volume andreducing starch retrogradation is also discussed. Finally, the potential of increasing protein content to delay starchretrogradation and slow the staling process is considered.

Mitigating Bread Staling and Enhancing Nutritional Value: The Role ofWheat Bran and Fiber-Rich Additives in Bread Formulation Keywords:

bread waste , staling , shelf life , whole bread , bran.