Characteristics of sourdoughs and baked pizzas as affected by starter culture inoculums

Previous investigations on pizza dough lactic acid bacteria (LAB) revealed that facultative heterofermentative species (FHS) were more represented than obligate heterofermentative species (OHS) within the Lactobacillus genus. Thus, the main hypothesis of this work was that facultative and obligate heterofermentative Lactobacillus species can impact differently the appreciation of baked pizza. The performances of different Lactobacillus, including L. sanfranciscensis, L. brevis and L. rossiae among OHS and L. plantarum, L. graminis and L. curvatus among FHS were tested in single or multiple combinations during pizza production. The values of pH, total titratable acidity and LAB levels indicated that the acidification process was almost comparable among trials. The fermentation quotient of FHS trials was above 4.0. All trials were dominated by the added LAB and for the trials with the multiple strain starter inoculums, the species found at the highest cell densities were L. sanfranciscensis, L. brevis and L. plantarum. Significant differences among pizzas were found for weight loss, colour, morphology and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The last analysis revealed the presence of eight chemical classes with aldehydes, esters, alcohols and acids as major compounds and allowed the separation of the trials FHS and OHS. Sensory attributes were significantly different for judges and pizzas and the most relevant differences were found for crust colour, presence of bubbles, resistance to tearing, crispness and chewiness. The overall assessment reached the highest scores for the mixed culture of OHS and FHS together.