As soft baked goods are mainly sold as packed goods, the so-called “shelf softness” is checked from outside the packaging by the consumers by squeezing the pack by hand. In this way, the correspondingly softer baked goods appear to be fresher. In addition to the softness of crust and crumb, optimal baked goods are characterised by a moist, tenderly melting crumb that is not chewy but remains elastic. Experts check soft baked goods using instrument measuring technology and by specific sensory tests. These are described in the chapter Quality check of baked goods.
