COMPARISON OF FOURIER-TRANSFORM MID INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY AND NEAR-INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY WITH DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY FOR THE STUDY OF THE STALING OF BREAD

The staling of bread has previously been studied by differential scanning calorimetry and by simple rheological measurements. In this collaborative study, two spectroscopic techniques (Fourier transform mid infrared spectroscopy and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy) have been used in addition to differential scanning calorimetry to follow the progress of bread staling. Using each technique, changes in measured properties were apparent which, when fitted by first order exponential equations, gave calculated rate constants of similar magnitude. It is postulated that each technique gives independent information about the crystallisation process in the amylopectin fraction of the bread crumb.