Impact of salt and fat reduction under low pressure mixing on pizza dough properties

The increasing concern over the health implications of high salt and fat content in baked products has prompted a focus on optimizing their production processes. This work studied the impact of different levels of salt and fat on the energy parameters including dough development time, specific mechanical energy, and average power consumption during mixing. The gauge pressure of mixing allows controlling the gluten network formation. Hence, a Box-Behnken model was used to design the experiments for different levels of fat, salt and gauge pressure during mixing. Various dependent variables were measured, including void fraction, sheeting torque, extensibility and stickiness. The sheeted pizza doughs were baked, and changes in diameter after baking were analyzed using image analysis. The results showed that dough development time during mixing increased with salt content, while specific mechanical energy and average power consumption decreased with increasing fat content. The highest value of dough void fraction observed at atmospheric pressure. Sheeting torque was significantly affected by fat content at lower roller intervals. Resistance to extension increased with salt content, while the stickiness of the dough was influenced by both fat content and pressure. Deformation during baking increased with fat content. • DDT increases with salt content, while SME and APC decrease with fat content. • Void fraction of the dough depends on mixing gauge pressure. • Addition of fat reduces torque requirement during sheeting. • Resistance to extension decreases with higher fat content and lower salt content. • Higher fat content leads to increased deformation during baking.