Textural and sensory properties of the sweet Czech Christmas bread with sugar solutions

Background.The effect of sugar solutions, commonly used for preparing and improving quality of ice creams, that have a similar effect on the sweet Czech Christmas bread was checked. Material and methods. Commercial wheat flour T 512 ingredients were used for preparing dough and final products. Sugar solutions A, B were used as sweeteners for sucrose. Texture properties of dough and the sweet Czech Christmas bread were measured on the TA-XT Plus Texture Analyzer. The sweet Czech Christ- mas bread was subjected to sensory evaluation. Results.Dough firmness did not differ from each other or the control dough. The sweet Czech Christmas bread with partial substitutions of sucrose with the sugar solution A (containing 77.50 g of sugar in 100 g of sugar solution; 77.5°Brix ±1.5) had the same firmness as the control sample after baking and 3-day storage. Products with partial substitutions of sucrose with higher amounts of sugar solution B (40-50 g·kg-1), which contained 80 g of sugar in 100 g of sugar solution; 80°Brix ±1.5, had higher firmness after the 3rdday of stor- age. No difference was found among samples with partial substitutions of sucrose with the sugar solution B after baking. Sensory analyses did not show any significant changes in monitored characteristics (taste, sensation when swallowing, sweetness, dryness, pliancy, crispness, gumminess, saliva-absorbing capacity and quality). Conclusions. Partial substitution of saccharose by these sugar solutions is not preferable for the sweet Czech Christmas bread. There is no evidence of the same effect of sugar solutions on bakery products.