When the DuPont Corp. introduced its 1935 advertising slogan — “Better things for better living … through chemistry” — it was in many ways predicting the future life of Henry Zobel. His innovative research and lifelong dedication to science, particularly his idea to use a certain type of amylase enzyme to prevent staling in bread, has earned him a spot in the American Society of Baking’s Hall of Fame.

Born in Kansas, Zobel served in the armed forces during World War II before earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from the University of Illinois. From 1951 to 1966, he was a research chemist at the Northern Regional Research Laboratory, a facility of the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. It was here where Zobel first used X-ray crystallography to elucidate the structure of starch granules and the changes that occur during baking and subsequent staling.

It was a personal communication that Zobel wrote in 1990 that changed the baking industry forever. Referencing a 1959 article he co-wrote with F.R. Senti — “The Bread Staling Problem X-Ray Diffraction Studies on Breads Containing a Cross-Linked Starch and a Heat-Stable Amylase” — Zobel effectively launched the search for an amylase enzyme to prevent staling. Just as he predicted, that enzyme was eventually discovered.

“This note documents an idea on the role of enzymes as an anti-staling measure in breads,” Zobel wrote in his letter dated Feb. 27, 1990. “The primary effect of enzyme addition appears to be scission of chains in amorphous regions that connect starch crystallites in bread crumb. In effect, the crumb is softer because breaking the molecular network negates the consequences of starch crystallinity that developed with crumb.”

Zobel also worked for CPC International and later teamed with researchers at Enzyme Bio-Systems (part of Corn Products) to find the amylase enzyme with the defined characteristics (intermediate stability and selective activity). In addition, he worked with researchers at Thomas’ (also part of Corn Products at the time; now owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA) to confirm and document efficacy.

“Henry was known among his colleagues as a good industry-focused scientist and was respected by his fellow starch chemists,” wrote Maureen Olewnik and Debi Rogers, both professors at Kansas State University and former AIB International members, in a nomination letter to the Hall of Fame committee. “Without his research, we might not have the variety of shelf-extension options that exist for the baking industry today.”

An author — his 1988 reference book “Molecules to Granules: A Comprehensive Starch Review” remains a standard resource in understanding the basics of starch research and application — Zobel was also an active member of the American Association of Cereal Chemists. He retired in 1986.

Zobel died at the age of 87 in 2009, but his dedication and passion for his work as a chemist continues to reverberate within the baking industry. His idea that enzymes could be used to prevent staling in bread products changed the way bakers bake. In the end, Zobel did better things for better living … through chemistry.

This article is an excerpt from the February 2025 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Baking Hall of Fame, click here.