Enzyme Activity

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top 1000How Baking Works
How Baking Works

By Paula Figoni

Published 2003

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Recall that amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starches. Likewise, proteases are enzymes that break down proteins, including gluten. When gluten is broken down into smaller pieces by protease, it is weakened and the dough becomes softer, smoother, and more extensible. Like reducing agents, proteases are sometimes added to dough by large-scale commercial bakeries so that the dough mixes faster and more easily and is easier to stretch and shape.

There are small amounts of protease enzymes naturally present in all flours, even white flour, but under normal conditions, these enzymes are not active. Artisan bread bakers have found ways, sometimes unknowingly, to activate the protease naturally present in flour. Table 7.1 summarizes some potential sources of protease activity in bread baking.