Examination of the physico-chemical parameters of some romanian breads

• Bread is one of the most fundamental foods in human diet. • Bread loses a quarter of its weight in moisture over 3 days. • All breads pass organoleptic tests for taste, smell, appearance, and texture. Bread is one of the most fundamental foods in human diet. During this research we investigated the changes in various parameters of commercially available breads. The parameters examined included shape factor, porosity, apparent and real density, dry matter content, moisture content, drying mechanism, and ash content. To classify the bread samples and analyze the data descriptive statistics and box-plot analysis were applied. The laboratory results indicate that during the shelf life, the moisture content of the breads decreases by half, leading to a 25 % reduction in weight compared to the initial weight. White bread had the lowest apparent density and the highest porosity, averaging 67 %, brown breads had the lowest porosity, averaging 46 %. The raw ash content was lowest in white breads (1.5 %) and highest in brown and homemade breads, averaging 1.73 %. These findings show that white bread is lighter and more porous but has lower mineral content, while brown and homemade breads are denser with higher mineral content. This can help consumers choose bread based on texture and nutrition, and assist bakers in refining recipes.