Soil Water Deficit During Wheat Grain Filling Drives Wholemeal Bread Texture in an Extreme Climatic Year

Crumb texture is an essential attribute of bread quality, influencing perceptions of freshness and consumer acceptability. This study characterized the textural properties of wholemeal bread crumb—prepared without enzymes or preservatives—from Romanian wheat stored during 2024–2025, and identified the main factors controlling texture variability. Texture profile analysis (TPA) was used to evaluate firmness, cohesiveness, elasticity, and gumminess, and the results were correlated with agrometeorological data and with physicochemical, rheological, microbiological, and mycotoxicological indicators of wheat, flour, and bread. Firmness, cohesiveness, and gumminess were predominantly associated with precipitation and soil water deficit in June, corresponding to the critical grain-filling period, whereas air temperature had no significant effect. Elasticity was relatively independent of environmental conditions and was mainly associated with protein quality and flour hydration. No significant correlations were found between textural parameters and fungal contamination or the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol, aflatoxin B1, and ochratoxin A. These findings highlight the central role of water availability in wheat grain formation and bread texture, particularly in Romania and drought-prone Southeastern European cereal systems, and support climate-smart quality management through targeted grain-lot segregation and differentiated cereal–bakery processing strategies under increasingly frequent climate extremes.