Crumb structure is an essential element in good baking. It affects the quality of a loaf and determines what type of bread bakeries produce.  

Consistency of quality is essential for commercial bakeries and central to maintaining this consistency is accurate crumb analysis.  

Bakers can assess the surface area of a baked product slice visually using detailed crumb analysis. By applying this technique, they can see the internal cellular structure of the sample. This helps them assess how the product looks, feels and tastes.

Crumb analysis uses technology instead of traditional, sensory bread scoring to assess the textural properties of baked goods objectively.  

The method for doing this involves a baking quality analyser. 

 What is Crumb Structure?  

Consumers have certain expectations when it comes to the characteristic shape and texture of bread and baked goods. 

There is a close relationship between the cellular structure of bread crumb and various quality aspects of the finished loaf.  

Crumb structure includes:  

  • Internal cell shape 

  • Uniformity of cells and cell size 

  • Thickness of cell walls. 

 It also directly influences these elements in baked products:  

  • Texture 

  • Colour. 

 Why is Crumb Structure Important in Bread and Baking? 

The crumb structure determines the type of loaf or product your baking will produce. For example, a typical sandwich loaf will have a fine crumb cell, whereas French baguettes and croissants have a more aerated crumb. Middle Eastern flatbread has a dense, high cell and fine crumb structure.  

However, these different types of bread all have cellular solid structures. The breadcrumb cell structure is open cell and spongy with highly connected pores. Its mechanical structure is similar to synthetic foam. 

 There is an interaction between its material behaviour and its complex microstructure.   

Average cell size and cell distribution determine the empty pockets within the crumb structure, and the thickness distribution of cell walls and surfaces determines the makeup of the solid parts of the cell structure.  

This cellular architecture, the size and geometry of pores especially, will have a significant impact on the quality of a baked loaf.  

Identifying and measuring these characteristics helps bakers identify the effects of different processing conditions on product characteristics and quality.  

A typical English style loaf of bread has a dark, domed oval crust, bursting wide at its scored areas. The crumb is open and airy, and this should appear even from end to end. This shows that the dough has been aerated properly. 

But if the same type of loaf has been under-proved, not giving its gluten network sufficient time to relax, then the crumb structure will appear uneven and random. The centre of the loaf will be dense.  

A loaf with an open crumb, such as sourdough, will have an even interior and a light texture. Open crumb is evidence of sufficiently strong fermentation, dough strength and good dough handling. It doesn’t have scattered holes that are excessively large or dense areas.  

Other loaves require a greater density, such as heavier multigrain bread or rye breads.  

Why Should You Measure Crumb Structure?  

Understanding and analysing crumb structure are central to achieving baking consistency and maintaining quality control.  

Crumb analysis has become an essential part of quality control and research and development (R&D) in many commercial bakeries globally. It can highlight potential inconsistencies in ingredients and processes.  

These inconsistencies are not something the human eye can detect, but they can have a considerable impact on baking quality, expense and output.  

The crumb’s three-dimensional structure defines the sensory and textural properties of a loaf or other baked product.  

Measuring crumb structure enables bakeries to:  

  • Determine the impact of wheat variety on baking quality  

  • Identify the effects of wheat and non-wheat components in bread  

  • Assess the impact of dough conditioners and emulsifiers on the sensory qualities of bread.  

There are various factors in crumb analysis that can apply across a range of baked goods:  

  • The higher the number of cells and mean cell area, the better the porosity of the bread  

  • Coarse crumb has thicker cell walls, fine texture crumb has thin cell walls  

  • Bread made with too much water or not enough salt produces a highly porous structure with large cells  

  • Crumb analysis helps detect potential damage to baked goods and therefore helps prevent or reduce waste and increase efficiency.  

How to Test Crumb Structure 

The modern method for testing crumb structure is to use an advanced digital imaging system.  

This photographs a sample slice of bread, cake or other baked products and processes this digital data to analyse the sample’s critical crumb attributes, including:  

  • Internal structure 

  • Number of cells 

  • Cell diameter 

  • Net cell elongation 

  • Wall thickness 

  • Non-uniformity 

  • L*a*b* crumb colour. 

 The C-Cell Colour baking analyser also includes a bread scoring function, enabling bakeries to set benchmarks to optimise production processes for specific products. 

Despite its sophistication and the detailed data it generates and analyses, the C-Cell’s digital imaging system is easy to operate.  

You simply place your sample slice in the instrument’s drawer. C-Cell takes a high-resolution image of the sample and then performs a detailed analysis of it.  

The instrument’s display screen shows the results. This information is reproducible and exportable.  

Objective crumb analysis helps bakeries set KPIs, supports R&D and offers error detection capabilities far beyond traditional, sensory evaluation.  

For more information about testing crumb structure using the C-Cell baking quality analyser, please contact Calibre Control.