Production of bio-flavored sourdough bread

Sourdough is the oldest form of leavened bread and has been used since the time of the pharaohs. Sourdough is a mixture of flour and water that is fermented by naturally present Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and yeast. With modernization and an increase in demand, the bread industry currently produces easy to leaven soft bread using Baker's yeast. To get a sourdough bread with consistent flavors and texture is considered to be an art and skill. The purpose of our endeavor has been to bring in scientific principles and the use of a laboratory-developed defined consortium for better and reproducible sourdough product with consistent flavor, texture and aroma. Of the twelve isolates obtained from selected probiotics, four organisms: S. boulardii, L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus and yeast strain isolated from Kefir were selected based on their production of flavoring compounds. The individual ability of each organism to impart better flavor and texture to the bread product was assessed using standard flavor and texture profiling. Five tasters were provided with a rubric to evaluate the flavor as well as the texture of the bread. In-house kilning apparatus-for the malting of flour and texture analyzer was designed for texture profiling.