Rheological and Microstructural Regulation of Frozen Dough by Plant-Derived Polysaccharide Cryoprotectants
Keywords:
frozen dough, polysaccharide cryoprotectants, rheology, microstructure, cold chain, food system governance, sustainabilityAbstract
The increasing use of frozen dough in industrial and artisanal bakery operations has exposed a persistent tension between the economic advantages of centralized production, extended storage, and distributed baking on one hand, and the material fragility of dough systems under freezing stress on the other. Freezing and frozen storage disrupt the gluten network, redistribute water, and destabilize yeast viability, leading to rheological degradation and inconsistent final product quality. Plant-derived polysaccharide cryoprotectants have emerged as promising formulation agents because they can simultaneously modify water mobility, ice crystal morphology, and dough viscoelastic behavior. This paper develops a system-level analysis of the rheological and microstructural regulation of frozen dough by plant-derived polysaccharide cryoprotectants. It examines the frozen dough as a coupled material and cold chain system, discusses the mechanisms of cryodamage, and explains the architectural function of polysaccharide hydrocolloids in modulating water interactions and network continuity. The discussion then integrates structural trade-offs, formulation deployment, infrastructure constraints, sustainability, robustness, fairness, and policy implications. Rather than treating polysaccharides solely as additive chemistries, the paper argues that their effective use requires alignment among formulation design, freezing logistics, storage governance, and quality assurance systems. This perspective connects molecular cryoprotection to broader socio-technical and environmental objectives, emphasizing that durable improvements in frozen dough performance depend on coordinated intervention across material science, process engineering, and food system governance.
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This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
