Studio dei fenomeni coinvolti nella lievitazione degli impasti per pizza

The target of the study is to understand how the pizza dough structure evolves during proofing and which biochemical phenomena can be correlated to the rheological proprieties. Doughs were prepared with flour, salt, yeast and the 60.5% of water, and then proofed at selected times (0, 4, 8, 16, 24 h) at 22°C and 80% RH. Leavening kinetics was monitored during 24 h by digital image acquisition, from which proofed loaves volume was obtained. Moreover, the levels of digestible and resistant starch were also determined in order to assess a correlation with the digestibility and glycemic index of the cooked pizza. Results demonstrated that the dough leavened for 24 h showed a reduction in the elastic modulus (G’) , compared to all the other doughs, in the cooling interval, indicating that the gluten network formed after cooking has fewer interactions. These findings are confirmed by the obtained biochemical results. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that a long leavening of the pizza dough may improve the extensibility of the pizza disc by facilitating the action of the pizza maker during the forming phase and moreover, it could improve the digestibility, as digestion enzymes have an easier time acting on proteins and starch due to the breakdown of structure in the dough with long leavening.