Application Notes - Magnetic Resonance

Porosity in chocolate and Bread dough

The pores form during cooling, i.e., tempering and give information on the mechanical properties, taste intensity, process stability, fat blooming and shelf life of the chocolate.

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Chocolate is a multi-phase material which taste strongly depends on its crystal structure. Porosity is an important measure for the chocolate. The pores form during cooling, i.e., tempering and give information on the mechanical properties, taste intensity, process stability, fat blooming and shelf life of the chocolate.

Besides chocolate, the porosity in bread has a large impact on how we perceive bread during oral processing, leading to a large variety of different breads, such as, French baguette, toast bread, etc.. Bread can be seen as a solid foam, which’s porosity is strongly related to its processing conditions, i.e., time, temperature, humidity, etc.. The porosity is largely generated during its proofing, which’s formation can be see in Figure 2

3D SpinEcho (FOV: 14 x 14 x 28 mm3, resolution: 86 x 86 x 86 µm3). image of pore size distribution in a chocolate bar. Acquired with Micro2.5, 10 mm birdcage coil

3D Spin Echo (FOV: 20 x 20 x 20 mm3, 156 x 156 x 156 µm3) time series images of bread dough during fermentation at 10 °C acquired every 30 min. The intensities are proportional to the density of the dough and contain information about the porosity change during the process.

References:

GOETZ, Joachim; GROß, Dieter; KOEHLER, Peter. On-line observation of dough fermentation by magnetic resonance imaging and volumetric measurements. European Food Research and Technology, 2003, 217. Jg., Nr. 6, S. 504-511.