Influence of dough freezing on Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolism

Abstract

The need to freeze dough is increasing in bakery production. Frozen dough can be stored for a long time without quality change. The capacity of bakery production can be increased in this way, and in the same time, the night shifts can be decreased. Yeast cells can be damaged by freezing process resulting in poor technological quality of dough after defrostation (longer fermentation of dough). The influence of frozen storage time of dough on survival percentage of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated. Dough samples were taken after 1, 7, 14 and 28 days of frozen storage at -20°C. After defrosting, at room temperature, samples were taken from the surface and the middle part of dough (under aseptic conditions), and the percentage of living S. cerevisiae cells was determined. During frozen storage of dough, the number of living S. cerevisiae decreased. After 28 days of frozen storage, the percentage of live cells on the surface and inside the dough was 53,1% and 54,95%, respectively. The addition of k-carragenan to dough increased the percentage of living cells in the middle part of dough up to 64,63%. Pure cultures, isolated from survived S. cerevisia cells in frozen dough by agar plates method (Koch's method), were multiplied in optimal liquid medium for yeasts. The content of cytochromes in S. cerevisiae cells was determined by spectrophotometric method. The obtained results showed that the content of cytochromes in survived S. cerevisiae cells was not affected by dough freezing process. Growth rate and fermentative activity (Einchor's method) were determined in multiplied cells.

Keywords

• cytochromes
• fermentative activity
• freezing
• k-carragenan
• survival
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae