Effects of two different sourdoughs on the characteristics of Pandoro, a typical Italian sweet leavened baked good

Pandoro is a traditional Italian sweet-leavened baked product, usually consumed at Christmas. It is manufactured according to specific procedures and preparation starts from a sourdough called ‘‘madre’’ (mother sponge) continuously refreshed. This sourdough is the result of a complex microbial association including yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and its use can improve sensory quality and shelf-life of the resulting products. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the use of two different sourdoughs matured at different temperature (13 and 19 C) on some metabolites, which can affect the organoleptic characteristics of Pandoro. Different samples, taken throughout the 19 h of process, were analysed for the determination of yeast and LAB counts, pH, aw, carbohydrates, organic acids content and volatile profile. The results showed that, at the end of fermentation process, the sourdough propagated at 19 C reached lower pH values than that at 13 C. This was probably due to higher LAB counts (1 log unit higher), resulting also in higher lactic acid concentration and faster sugars depletion. On the contrary, temperature of dough during maturation did not affected yeast concentrations. Different production processes strongly affected also the volatile profile, both of sourdough at the end of fermentation and of the final products.