Multiscale Analysis of Water Mobility and Gluten Network Evolution in Polysaccharide-Based Frozen Dough Systems
Keywords:
frozen dough; water mobility; gluten network; polysaccharides; cryoprotection; multiscale systems; cold chain; digital twin; food policyAbstract
Frozen dough systems are increasingly important to centralized food production, retail baking, and distributed cold-chain infrastructures, yet their quality depends on coupled physical, chemical, and operational processes that span molecular to logistical scales. This paper develops a multiscale systems analysis of water mobility and gluten network evolution in polysaccharide-based frozen dough. It treats dough as a socio-technical architecture in which water distribution, ice recrystallization, gluten polymerization, starch transitions, polysaccharide cryoprotection, and cold-chain governance interact across scales. The analysis emphasizes that water is not a passive solvent but a plasticizing, transport, and structural agent whose mobility shapes gluten continuity, gas retention, and final bread quality. Gluten network evolution is discussed as a dynamic balance among hydration, disulfide bonding, hydrophobic association, and freeze-induced mechanical stress. Polysaccharide interventions are examined as cryoprotective sol-gel architectures that modify ice formation, water immobilization, and network repair, with structural trade-offs between extensibility, strength, and processability. The paper then connects these material phenomena to sensing infrastructures, digital twins, deployment constraints, sustainability, robustness, fairness, and policy implications. It argues that frozen dough quality should be governed as a multiscale infrastructure problem rather than as an isolated ingredient or unit-operation issue. By integrating food material science with systems thinking, the paper identifies pathways for more resilient, transparent, and equitable frozen dough supply systems.
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