Physicochemical behaviors of sugars, lipids, and gluten in short dough and biscuit

The structure of short dough and biscuit has been characterized at a macroscopic level (dimensions, bulk structure) and a microscopic level (starch damage, protein aggregates, microstructure) by physical and biochemical methods. The baking process of short dough induces a large decrease of the product bulk density from 1.26 to 0.42 (+/-0.01) g.cm(-3) for final biscuit, leading to a cellular solid with a thin colored surface and a porous inner structure. Proteins appear aggregated in biscuit when compared to short dough,whereas starch granules remain almost intact in biscuits. The components which are involved in the cohesiveness of short dough and biscuit final structure have been identified. They suggest that short dough is a suspension of solid particles in a liquid phase being an emulsion of lipids in a concentrated sugar solution. The role of sugars in biscuit, structure suggest that biscuit structure is a composite matrix of protein aggregates, lipids and sugars, embedding starch granules.