Cookie and bread making performance using Jeju magma seawater was explored to elucidate the effect of minerals in water on quality of baked goods. Mineral content, pH and water hardness for seven water samples (magma seawater, 100% ED mineral water, 50% ED mineral water, 10% ED mineral water, tap water, Samdasoo, and distilled water) used in the study were analyzed. Starch pasting property of flour with the water samples was analyzed using RVA, and its cookie and bread making performances were evaluated with AACCI wire-cut cookie baking and AACCI bread baking method, respectively. Cookie quality was measured by weight loss during baking, cookie geometry, color and firmness, whereas bread quality was measured by dough pH and height after fermentation, bread loaf volume, moisture content, color, and firmness of bread crumb. Also bread quality change during storage was evaluated.
Mineral content of the water samples was increased in the order of magma distilled water<Samdasoo<tap water<10% ED mineral water<50% ED mineral water<100% ED mineral water<magma seawater. Calculated water hardness and pHs of them ranged from 0-4200 and 6.54-7.66, respectively. RVA results showed that pasting temperature, peak viscosity, final viscosity and setback viscosity were increased with increasing water hardness. Baking results showed that cookie diameter and bread volume decreased with increasing water hardness. Cookie diameter decreased in the order of distilled water?Samdasoo?tap water?10% ED mineral water?50% ED mineral water?100% ED mineral water?magma seawater. A significant relationship of water hardness with cookie diameter (p<0.001, R=-0.98), color (L*: p<0.01, R=-0.98; a*: p<0.001, R=-0.98; b*: p<0.05, R=-0.83) and firmness (p<0.07, R=0.77) was observed. Bread loaf volume also decreased in the order of distilled water>Samdasoo?tap water?10% ED mineral water?50% ED mineral water?100% ED mineral water?magma seawater. Bread dough height after fermentation decreased with increasing water hardness, which indicated the retardation of yeast activity by increased mineral content and less amount of carbon dioxide gas formation during fermentation as well as baking, resulted in denser and harder bread crumb. During storage for 4 days, all bread crumb samples became drier, firmer and darker although its extent of change varied depending on water hardness of the water samples.
Overall mineral content and water hardness of water affected cookie and bread making performance. However, cookies formulated with 50% ED mineral water showed similar cookie geometry and texture to those with tap water. It is suggested that controlling mineral content and water hardness of 100% ED mineral water can be successfully applied to produce mineral-enriched cookies. Although bread making performance was affected a greater extent by mineral content of water than did cookie making performance, 100% ED mineral water also can be applied to produce mineral-enriched bread through identifying mineral content and water hardness being maximum while maintaining yeast activity. In conclusion, this study demonstrated a potential application of Jeju magma seawater as a valuable ingredient for producing mineral-enriched healthy baked goods.