Evaluation of carbon dioxide released by bread dough during proving stage

This study presents the analysis of multiple bread dough proving processes with the purpose of establishing a correlation between the concentration of released carbon dioxide during fermentation and the working parameters (time and temperature). The testing was performed using a standard recipe for white bread dough, a small capacity prover with air conditioning unit for temperature and relative humidity regulation, CO2 and temperature sensors with data acquisition plate. In the first part are presented the results for 11 measurements of CO2 concentration for one dough piece fermentation process at varying proving temperatures. In the second part of the paper are presented the results of 4 measurements of CO2 for 9 dough pieces proving at temperatures between 30 and 39 °C, at 3°C intervals. The obtained measurements of CO2 were correlated with the volume and dimensions of the finished products. The obtained results are considered relevant for this study and for the possibility of fermentation level evaluation using the quantity of CO2 released during proving. The presented study is part of an extensive research performed for the identification of a method for automated control of working regime in industrial bread dough provers using the measurements of released CO2