Food Sci. Technol. Res.

, 9 (3), 219–226, 2003

Review

Recent Advances in the Studies of Bread Baking Process and Their Impacts on the
Bread Baking Technology

Nantawan THERDTHAI1 and Weibiao ZHOU1,2*

1
Centre for Advanced Food Research, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury Campus, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, Australia
2
Food Science and Technology Programme, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, 117543 Singapore

Received April 30, 2003; Accepted July 3, 2003

In bread-making, baking process is one of the key steps to produce the final product qualities including texture,
color and flavor, as a result of several thermal reactions such as nonenzymatic browning reaction, starch gelatiniza-
tion, protein denaturalization and so on. These thermal reactions are dominated by heat and mass transfer mecha-
nisms inside an oven chamber as well as inside the dough pieces. Mathematical models have been developed to ac-
count for the heat and mass transfer phenomena and their consequent impacts on the product qualities. These studies
have made the complicated baking process more clearly understood and predictable. As a result, baking process con-
ditions can be optimized. In addition, new baking techniques and oven designs have been proposed in order to im-
prove product qualities with better process economics.

Keywords: bread, baking, bakery, heat and mass transfer, temperature profile, heat flux, modeling

1. Introduction 2. Heat and mass transfer mechanisms during baking

The qualities of bakery products rely on both formula and pro- During baking, heat is transferred through the combination of
cessing conditions. Some qualities can be improved by optimiz- all the three well-known mechanisms: conduction, convection
ing a formula (Larsen & Greenwood, 1991; Stampfli & Nersten, and radiation. However, the actual form of combination and pro-
1995; Cauvain, 1998; Shimizu et al., 2003). However, without portions are very different for heat transfer within dough pieces
the optimum processing condition, the final product quality can and heat transfer within an oven chamber.
be much degraded. Processing of bakery products mainly con- 2.1. Heat transfer within dough
sists of mixing, proving, baking and cooling. Each of these pro- Heat transfer in a dough is the combination of a conduction
cesses dominates different quality attributes (Kilborn & Preston, from band or tins to the dough, a conduction in the continuous
1981; Larsen & Greenwood, 1991; Wesley et al., 1998; Anon- liquid/solid phase of the dough and an evaporation-condensation
ymous, 1995, 1998; Grenier et al., 2002). All quality attributes in the gas phase of the dough. De Vries et al. (1989) stated 4
due to the thermal reactions are dominated by the baking process. steps involved in the heat transport. Firstly, water evaporates at
The baking process is a step in which the raw dough piece is the warmer side of a gas cell that absorbs latent heat of vaporiza-
transformed into crumb and crust texture, under the influence of tion. Then water vapor immigrates though the gas phase. When it
heat. The most apparent changes during this period are volume meets the cooler side of the gas cell, it condenses and becomes
expansion, crust formation, inactivation of yeast and enzymatic water. Finally heat and water are transported by conduction and
activities, protein coagulation, partial starch gelatinization (Pyler, diffusion through the gluten gel to the warmer side of the next
1988) and moisture loss (Eliasson & Larsson, 1993). With the cell. The water diffusion mechanism becomes more important
requisite quality attributes, the production presumes a carefully when dough tends to be a poor conductor that limits the heat
controlled baking process. Key baking conditions which place transfer via conduction.
vital influences on the final product quality include the rate and Zanoni et al. (1993) proposed a mechanistic model to describe
amount of heat application, the humidity level in a baking the heat and mass transfer phenomena causing a series of physi-
chamber and the baking time. In order to obtain the desired cal, chemical and structural transformations in bread. Tempera-
product qualities by baking, it is critical to fully understand these ture, moisture, crust thickness, and increased volume were de-
changes brought by the baking conditions and their interactions. termined. Initially, convective evaporation of water occurs at the
Consequently, there have been many studies focussed on one or bread surface exposed to air and the crumb temperature increases
more of these issues. This article aims to review the recent studies linearly with time towards a constant value of 100˚C. Massive
and progresses on the heat and mass transfer phenomena during unbound water evaporates at this temperature with water boiling
baking, quality changes in accordance with the baking condi- phenomenon. Therefore, this study assumed that the constant
tions, baking process optimization and oven design. temperature of 100˚C was the evaporation-front temperature. In
the crust, a bread portion above the evaporation front, bound
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. water evaporates. As a result, the crust temperature increases and
E-mail: chmzwb@[Link] tends to the oven temperature. The crust becomes thicker when
220 N. THERDTHAI & W. ZHOU

the evaporation-front progressively advances towards the inside. eration. For computation, the scalar values such as pressure, dis-
For microwave heating of dough, Tong and Lund (1993) present- sipation, and kinetic energy of turbulence are determined at the
ed a 1-dimensional mathematical model of heat diffusion in Car- volume center whereas the three components of vector variables
tesian co-ordinates with internal heat generation. The model was such as velocity are determined on the volume faces (Mathiou-
developed based on a principal model involving water transfer in lakis et al., 1998).
vapor phase, water content in the hygroscopic range and equilib- The CFD models clearly show that increasing airflow velocity
rium moisture content at the product surface during baking. The in the oven chamber would increase heat flux to the product
considered parameters included water diffusivity, bulk density, (Carvalho & Mertins, 1991; Velthuis et al., 1993; De Vries et al.,
thermal conductivity, latent heat, dielectric constant, and constant 1995; Noel et al., 1998). In addition, a change in the chamber gas
surface heat transfer coefficient. With similar parameters, Zanoni composition during baking also affects the heat flux. When the
et al. (1994) developed a 2-dimensional axi-symmetric heat dif- oven chamber was filled with radiation absorbing gases (water
fusion model. The phenomena were described separately for the vapor and carbon dioxide), the average temperature was estimated
upper and lower parts (crust and crumb). The upper part (crust) to be increased by 5˚C (Velthuis et al., 1993). So far, the effect of
temperature was determined by equations including heat supply the migration of water and water vapor has not been integrated
by convection, conductive heat transfer toward the inside, and into the account of the heat transfer in an oven chamber yet.
convective mass transfer toward the outside. The lower part 2.3. Mass transfer during baking
(crumb) temperature was determined by the Fourier’s law. In Diffusion together with evaporation and condensation have
addition to the Cartesian co-ordinates models, a 1-dimensional been assumed to be the mass transfer mechanisms inside dough
cylindrical co-ordinate model was also established by De Vries et (Tong & Lund, 1993; Zanoni et al., 1993; Zanoni et al., 1994;
al. (1989). Thorvaldsson & Janestad, 1999). The transport of water is driven
2.2. Heat transfer within oven chambers by the gradients in water content. Thorvaldsson and Skjolde-
In an oven chamber, molecules of air, water vapor, or combus- brand (1998) found that at the center of a loaf, the measured
tion gases circulate throughout the oven and transfer heat by con- water content decreased until the center temperature was at 70

vection until they contact solid surfaces such as tin, band, con- 5˚C because of the volume expansion. However the total water
veyor and so on. Then heat transfer mode is changed to conduc- content of the loaf should be constant because dough had not got
tion. Radiant heat, which comes from the burner flames and all a continuous pore system. When the temperature reached 70˚C,
hot metal parts in the oven and travels in a straight line, has 2 some structural changes commenced; as a result, the discrete
characteristics different from the other modes of heat transfer. pore became continuous and then allowed water to move freely.
Firstly, it is subject to shadowing or blocking by intervening lay- To reduce the partial water vapor pressure due to the tempera-
ers that are opaque to the radiation. Secondly, it is responsive to ture gradient, water moves towards the loaf center and the sur-
changes in the absorptive capacity of the dough. For example, face by evaporation and condensation. As a result, crumb tem-
color changes influence the progression of baking by increasing perature increasing is accelerated. At the surface exposed to oven
the absorption of infrared rays. An increase in the absorptive air where the partial water vapor pressure is far from saturation,
capacity for infrared rays, though not apparent visually, is an the water vapor diffuses into the air; as a result, the surface starts
almost invariable concomitant of the visible change. As a result, to dry out (Eliasson & Larsson, 1993). At this stage, a differenti-
there is a tendency for color changes to accelerate after the first ation in bread structure is observed. Crumb is a wet core that
browning appears. Such a tendency might be either good or bad contains as much moisture as the dough. Crust is a dried portion,
depending on the desired characteristics in the final products. the longer the baking is, the higher the thickness (Zanoni et al.,
Therefore radiation tends to cause localized temperature differen- 1994). In a study by Larsen and Greenwood (1991), the moisture
tials of an exposed surface, particularly the darkened area, content in the center of crumb was measured at 45.7%, whereas
whereas convection tends to even out temperature gradients the edge was at 37.2%. This moisture differential has a conse-
(Matz, 1989). quence on staling mechanisms. It may affect the activity of some
Gupta (2001) developed a model to estimate the fraction of heat stable anti-staling amylolytic enzymes, because amylolytic
heat transfer modes to Indian flat bread in a continuous baking activity increases with an increased hydration in dough. The
oven. It was found that conduction was the most important heat moisture movement in crumb and crust can be described by the
transfer mode from the oven chamber to the product. However, Fick’s law (Sablani et al., 1998; Thorvaldsson & Janestad, 1999).
the model considered neither the direction of heat and flow to the Sablani et al. (1998) described a general equation for the tem-
product, nor the dynamic change of oven load during continuous perature and moisture distribution within bakery products, which
baking. To deal with the complexity of heat distribution, product unfortunately contains a few errors. A corrected model for the
geometry and oven configuration, computational fluid dynamics combined heat and mass transfer in dough during baking can be
(CFD) modeling technique has been used to study heat and mass presented as follows.
transfer in an oven chamber (Fuhrmann et al., 1984; Carvalho & T C
bc pb------(k pT )
b v-------, (1)
Mertins, 1991; Velthuis et al., 1993; De Vries et al., 1995; Noel t t
et al., 1998; Verboven et al., 2003; Therdthai et al., 2003). CFD C
-------(DC), (2)
is a numerical technique for solving partial differential equations. t
The main characteristic of this technique is the immediate dis- with the boundary conditions:
cretization of the equation of flow into the physically three- kp Æ n =ht(Tas)+e(T 4w T 4s ), (3)
dimensional space. The solution domain is divided into a number DC Æ n =hm(CaCs), (4)
of cells known as control volume. This process is called grid gen- where b is apparent density, cpb is specific heat, T is temperature,
Recent Advances in the Studies of Bread Baking 221

t is time, kp is thermal conductivity, v is latent heat, D is water ent baking conditions. Besides the baking condition, addition of
diffusivity, ht is convective heat transfer coefficient, hm is convec- some ingredients would also influence the starch gelatinization.
tive mass transfer coefficient, C is absolute moisture content, e is Emulsifiers, for example, delay the gelatinization, as a result, the
emissivity and  is Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The subscript a period of time for volume expansion is prolonged or the increas-
stands for air, s stands for surface, and w stands for walls. ing in viscosity is delayed. Therefore, adding emulsifiers is ex-
Thorvaldsson and Janestad (1999) further divided moisture C pected to improve the baking performance (Eliasson & Larsson,
into liquid water and water vapor, which diffused separately and 1993).
simultaneously inside dough. A saturation equilibrium was Protein denaturalization In wheat flour based products
assumed between the liquid water and water vapor. (bread, cracker, cookies, cake, etc.), dough is prepared through
the formation of wheat gluten network. When dough is subject to
3. Physical changes during baking high temperature during baking, changes in its viscoelastic prop-
3.1. Structural changes erties are found, depending on the physico-chemical characteris-
There are 2 major structural phenomena in a baking process. tics of the wheat gluten (Hansen et al., 1975). Heating at tem-
The first one is the transformation of a semi-fluid dough to a pre- peratures above 60˚C leads to an increase in the storage modulus
dominantly solid baked product. This transformation is charac- that characterizes elastic properties. This effect can be explained
terized by the corresponding rheological properties. Changes in by the polymerization of glutenins as a result of thiol-disulphide
the rheological properties are affected by the baking conditions. interchange reaction. Thermal effect induces the change from
The second structural phenomenon is the expansion of dough in gluten gel to coagel (Bloksma, 1986). Cuq et al. (2000) hypothe-
the oven until its structure is fixed. The expansion is accompa- sized that, changes in the solubility of wheat gluten during bak-
nied by a flow of material between the gas cells in the dough. ing were dependent on its gliadin fraction. Otherwise the
Therefore, the resistance of the material to flow affects the oven changes might depend on the level of high temperature which
rise or dough expansion. allowed the activation of thermosetting reactions producing intra-
1) Solidification and inter-molecular covalent bonds of protein network. In addi-
A metamorphosis from dough to bread involves crucial steps tion, Gerrard et al. (2003) found that additional crosslinks to a
induced by starch gelatinization and transition from gel to coag- gluten network via Maillard reactions possibly produced better
el. The most striking changes are the opening of foam type of gas crumb texture and strength.
cells to produce pores and the solidification of aqueous bulk The change in gluten phase also enhances the effect of starch
medium. The solidification is caused partly by gelatinization and gelatinization, such as the transformation from a viscous dough
partly by the loss of cohesiveness during transition from gluten into an elastic material (Bloksma, 1986). After the protein is
gel to coagel. The bread is ready when the entire crumb reaches denatured during baking, water adsorbed in the gluten is
100˚C (Eliasson & Larsson, 1993). released. Then starch uses this water for gelatinization (Medcalf,
Starch gelatinization Starch granule is composed of amy- 1968; Marston & Wannan, 1976). Consequently, dough becomes
lose and amylopectin which forms crystalline together. The space a semi-rigid bread. Before baking, water in the dough is esti-
between molecules is called amorphous. In the presence of mated to be combined with starch (46%), protein (31%) and pen-
water, when molecules are heated up to the point that water has tosan (23%). After baking, water is only associated with starch
enough energy to break the bond in the amorphous area, gelatini- and pentosan (Bushuk, 1966).
zation starts (Medcalf, 1968). According to the nuclear magnetic 2) Expansion
resonance (NMR) baking (Engelsen et al., 2001), gelatinization Carbon dioxide gas is mainly produced by yeast and partially
starts at 55˚C and finishes at 85˚C when evaporation at the sur- produced by some baking powder. The production of carbon
face dominates. A series of processes at molecular scale include dioxide gas by yeast continues at an increased rate during the
swelling, melting, disruption of starch granules and exudation of first stage of baking until yeast is destroyed at a temperature of
amylose (Bloksma, 1986). As a result of starch gelatinization, the about 55˚C. According to the Gay-Lussac law, occluded gas ex-
partially swollen granules can be stretched into elongated forms pands when temperature increases from 25˚C to 70˚C (Bloksma,
to allow gas cells to expand. Therefore texture and structure of 1986). At temperatures below 55˚C, volume expansion is slightly
the product is dependent on starch gelatinization (Medcalf, influenced by temperature. However temperature shows signifi-
1968). The extent of starch gelatinization can be used as a baking cant effect on volume expansion, after dough temperature reach-
index. To characterize the extent of starch gelatinization, Zanoni es 60˚C (Fan et al., 1999). When temperature increases during
et al. (1995a) used a calorimeter to measure the quantity of heat baking, the solubility of carbon dioxide in a liquid dough phase
uptake which related to the progression of starch gelatinization. decreases. Then dissolved carbon dioxide vaporizes. At the same
Starch gelatinization reaction was found to follow the first-order time, saturated vapor pressure of water increases rapidly; as a
kinetics as: result, gas cells expand. In the presence of a constant pressure,
(1)exp(kt), (5) the volume of the occluded gas increases by a factor of 1.15
where  is the degree of gelatinization and t is time. The reaction (Bloksma, 1986). However the pressure remains constant until
rate constant k was dependent on temperature according to the dough temperature reaches 50˚C because dough viscosity does
Arrhenious equation with k02.8 1019 s1 and Ea139 J/mol. not affect oven rise up to this temperature. After that the in-
Zanoni et al. (1995b) established the first model that com- creased viscous resistance causes an increase in pressure (Fan et
bined the chemical-physical transformation model (i.e. starch al., 1999). If the pressure increases, the expansion will be accord-
gelatinization) with physical heat and mass transfer model. The ingly decreased. The expansion is ceased by the exhaustion of
model was useful to predict baking index with respect to differ- baking powder, by the inactivation of yeast at higher temperature
222 N. THERDTHAI & W. ZHOU

and by the resistance of the dough to extension. The resistance increased temperature (Ibarz et al., 2000) and a decreased mois-
can be due to either the viscous resistance of the bulk to defor- ture content (Moyano et al., 2002), following Arrhenius equa-
mation or a crust formation at the surface (Bloksma, 1986). To tion. In bread baking, crust browning reaction occurs at tem-
predict the volume expansion in accordance with the thermally- peratures greater than 110˚C (Wahlby & Skjoldebrand, 2002).
induced release of carbon dioxide gas and water vapor from Considering reaction kinetics, Zanoni et al. (1995c) developed
aqueous dough phase, Fan et al. (1999) established the following the following mathematical model to quantify the browning of
mathematical model: bread crust during baking.
4 3 E•EE• exp(kt), (7)
V ---R N
1, (6)
3 where E is the color difference tending asymptotically to
where V is relative volume, R is gas bubble radius (m), N is num- E•52 which corresponded to the burnt samples and t is bak-
ber of gas cells in the dough (kg1) and  is density of gass-free ing time. The reaction rate constant k was dependent on tempera-
dough (kg/m3). The model showed a good agreement with the ture according to the Arrhenius equation with k042,000 s1 and
published data from literature, although the effect of elasticity Ea64,151 J/mol.
was ignored. Color can be measured by Infrared Engineering (Colorex)
The volume expansion can be monitored by using a portable sensor or Hunterlab. The color is presented in L-a-b system. A
video camera through an oven window. Analysis of the images light (D65) is generated to present under filters in front of a prod-
allowed an evaluation of the sample height with an accuracy of uct surface. The resulted light is detected and transformed into an

1 mm (Zanoni et al., 1993). An apparatus from Hunterlab mea- electrical signal with 2% uncertainty in the case of Colorex
sures the product height and color at the same time. It was (Trystram, 1997). Kim and Cho (1997) used a monochrome
already applied to biscuit baking (McFarlane, 1995a). Kim and image to identify crust browning. However, they suggested to use
Cho (1997) applied a monotone image processing system using a color image to enhance the identification. Moreover, a Food
an edge detection technique. The height of a bread was measured Analyzer can take a black and white photo of the crust surface.
for calculating the bread volume. Its software can then calculate the amount of reflected light from
The combination of changing in rheological properties and the surface (Wahlby & Skjoldebrand, 2002). However, Ramirez-
gas production and evaporation results in loss of gas retention. Jimenez et al. (2000) claimed that color intensity measurement
The original structure is transformed into a sponge-like structure was less sensible than measuring the intermediate compound,
in which gas cells are interconnected (Bloksma, 1986). The hydroxymethylfurfural. Therefore they suggested hydroxymeth-
transformed structure is composed of crumb and crust. Crumb ylfurfural to be used as a browning indicator for sliced bread
has a pore structure which is complexly formed during oven toasting.
spring. The pore surface consisting of a mono-molecular lipid 2) Flavor is another quality attribute developed during bak-
firms with a few patches of polymerized high molecular weight ing process in the form of n-heterocycles via Maillard reactions.
storage protein units dispersed in it. Crust is a hard, vitreous sur- 2-Acetyl-1-pyroline and 2-acetyltetrahydro pyridine are the ma-
face layer formed of collapsed crumb pore walls. It is a result of jor flavor compounds formed in wheat flour bread crust. Based
dried starch gel with dispersed protein and lipid aggregates on the relationship between flavor development and progress of
(Eliasson & Larsson, 1993). Crust thickness could be measured baking, a flavor sensor was developed to be used as a process
by following the inwards movement of the 100˚C isotherm front indicator for baking and toasting processes (Kohl et al., 2001).
in the product (Wahlby & Skjoldebrand, 2002). During baking, the flavor compounds formed are adsorbed by
3.2. Color and flavor development pore curvatures. Crust structure also provides a barrier against
1) Color is the important characteristic of baked products, the loss of flavors (Eliasson & Larsson, 1993).
contributing to consumer preference. In bread crust, the higher 3.3. Moisture loss
temperature and lower water content activate nonenzymatic Almost all moisture loss in bakery products takes place during
browning reactions including Maillard reactions (sugar-amine) the baking process because of evaporation. Variations in moisture
and caramelization (Gogus et al., 2000). At the beginning of a loss are caused by dough nature and baking condition (Swort-
Maillard reaction, furosine amino acid is formed. However, the figuer, 1968). As stated earlier, due to the effect of heat during
furosine decreases after a high intensity is reached. In contrast, baking, dough structure is changed to a continuous pore structure
hydroxymethylfurfural, an intermediate product in the Maillard to allow water to move. Some water vapor loses through crust
reaction and sugar degradation, keeps increasing with higher layer by evaporation while some water vapor condenses at dough
temperature and baking time (Ramirez-Jimenez et al., 2000). center. Consequently, moisture content and water activity change
The resulted brown polymeric compound is called melanoidine. and moisture gradients are formed (Czuchajowska et al., 1989).
The browning reaction rate depends on water activity and tem- According to a model based on water evaporation and diffusion,
perature. The water activity that produces the maximum brown- Hall et al. (1998) found that after baking, the water content of
ing reaction rate is in the range of 0.4 and 0.6 depending on the crumb remained the same as the initial dough water content at
type of food substance (Gogus et al., 2000). At temperatures 45% whereas the crust water content was close to zero. There-
below 60˚C, the browning reaction performs as a zero-order fore the total moisture loss was basically from the loss at the sur-
reaction. When temperature is higher, reaction curve follows a face. Thorvaldsson and Skjoldebrand (1998) found that a total
first-order reaction. Due to the short period of sub-60˚C surface moisture loss of 53 g per loaf could be from the top crust (29 g),
temperature in baking processes, the overall color reaction is the layer below the top crust (12 g) and the side crust (12 g). In
assumed to follow the first-order kinetics (Zanoni et al.,1995c; the case of a frozen bun, Wahlby and Skjoldebrand (2002) found
Moyano et al., 2002). Its kinetic constant increases with an that during re-heating, the moisture loss from bread buns without
Recent Advances in the Studies of Bread Baking 223

crust was 3 times greater than the moisture loss from bread buns the lack of baking color and flavor, but condensation at the prod-
with crust. This was because the crust acted as a barrier to mass uct surface is also a major problem of the microwave baked
transfer. Heat supplied to the surface was used for heating the products (Sumnu, 2001). To overcome the problem, in one study,
surface and then conducted through the crust. Without a crust, airflow velocity was increased. As a result, heat and mass transfer
heat supplied to the surface was used for evaporating the water coefficients were increased. However, the mass transfer coeffi-
from buns. As a result, the center temperature of buns without cient was still not high enough to rapidly remove the significant
crust leveled off at a lower level than that of buns with crust. moisture accumulation. Therefore higher forced airflow velocity
Moisture loss can be measured from the reduced loaf weight should be applied at the optimal area to increase the surface
using a load cell (McFarlane, 1995b). In addition, a non-contact transfer coefficients (Verboven et al., 2003). When mass transfer
method based on near infrared (NIR) absorption can be applied. coefficient was high enough to significantly reduce the water
NIR wavelength is absorbed at the product surface in proportion content on the surface, color and flavor development could be
to the number of OH bonds encountered. However, this method enhanced at the same time as texture improvement.
cannot measure the moisture gradient inside a product. To mea- 4.3. Baking time
sure moisture content and density at the same time, microwave Kinetic reactions including starch gelatization and browning
could be used. Microwave measures moisture content through reaction depend on not only temperature, but also baking time.
the interaction of an electromagnetic field with the dielectric and Therefore, to reduce the baking time by increasing either airflow
power dissipative properties of water (Trystram, 1997). velocity or baking temperature, it has to be ensured that gelatini-
zation and browning reaction are completed, otherwise product
4. Effect of baking parameters on product quality quality can be degraded (Therdthai et al., 2002). Even though the
4.1. Temperature starch gelatization and browning reaction are completed, quality
As stated previously, temperature dominates product quality of the product baked by short and long baking times can still be
during baking, because it affects enzymatic reaction, volume quite different. Longer baking time can produce loaf side caving
expansion, gelatinization, protein denaturalization, nonenzymatic as well as less softness (Cauvain & Young, 2001). The combina-
browning reaction and water migration (Anonymous, 2002). tion of baking temperature and baking time should be optimised
Temperature gradient provides a pressure gradient in the product. to produce a desired product (Therdthai et al., 2002).
Then the pressure gradient causes the lattice to dilate in one 4.4. Humidity
dimension, from the centre of bread toward the surface. If such With the same oven temperature and air flow velocity, increas-
an expanded foam lattice is transformed to be a pore system, the ing air humidity by either injecting water vapor into the oven
pore structure will show the same dilatation. As a result, such chamber or water vapor migration from the product increases
bread is easily fractured along the inside of the crust. Therefore, heat flux. According to a CFD model, the average temperature of
to avoid the dilatation effect, the heat gradient in an oven has to an oven composed of 100% water vapor can be 5˚C higher than
be adapted to the strength of the gluten film forming the interface that of an oven containing only dry air (Velthuis et al., 1993).
of the gas cells (Eliasson & Larsson, 1993). Not only how much However water vapor could limit the crust formation (Chevallier
temperature is required, but when it should be applied is also et al., 2002). Therefore water vapor is normally applied to an
important. The optimum level of temperature is needed to be oven only at the beginning of a baking process for bread prod-
supplied at a right time. Otherwise, product quality can be ucts. On the other hand, an improper water vapor control and
degraded. For example, supplying too high temperature at the damper control could render the humidity being too low in an
early stage of baking might cause an early crust formation, oven chamber. As a result, baking loss might increase (Swort-
shrunk bread loaf and too dark crust (Therdthai et al., 2002). Use figuer, 1968).
of too high temperature at the bottom may cause holes towards
the bottom of a loaf, and then triangular shape. Moreover, cavity 5. Baking condition profiles
at the bottom is possibly found (Cauvain & Young, 2001). 5.1. Air temperature profile
4.2. Airflow velocity In a typical bread baking process, baking air temperature pro-
In addition to temperature, airflow velocity affects baking file can be divided into 3 stages (Swortfiguer, 1968). The first
quality. Lack of product uniformity is possibly due to the non- stage starts at around 204˚C and is composed of one-fourth of a
uniformity of airflow around product during baking. It was con- total baking time of 26 min. The temperature of outer crumb
firmed that heat flux to the product could be increased by increases at an average rate of 4.7˚C per min to 60˚C. An
increasing airflow velocity (Velthuis et al., 1993; Carvalho & increase in temperature enhances enzymatic activity and yeast
Nogueira, 1997). According to Sato et al. (1987), increasing air- growth resulting in an oven rise (a perceptible increase in loaf
flow velocity results in a higher weight loss, lower softness and volume). When temperature reaches 50–60˚C, most enzymes are
darker surface. Therefore either baking time or baking tempera- inactivated and yeast is killed. Consequently, carbon dioxide is
ture should be reduced with respect to an increase in heat transfer released from solution resulting in a rapid loaf expansion called
rate. However, baking process requires a minimum temperature oven spring. The volume increases by one-third of the original.
to produce an adequate color. When bread is baked under very Furthermore, surface skin loses elasticity, thickens and begins to
low temperature, very high air flow velocity is required to in- appear browning color. In the second stage, oven air temperature
crease the drying rate at surface. Nonetheless only drying rate is is maintained at 238˚C for 13 min. Crumb temperature increases
not enough to produce an acceptable crust color (Wahlby, 1998). at a rate of 5.4˚C per min to 98.4–98.9˚C before keeping con-
Similarly, in the case of a microwave baking oven, product is stant. At this temperature, all reactions are maximized, including
baked at low environment temperature and short time. Not only evaporation, starch gelatinization, and protein coagulation.
224 N. THERDTHAI & W. ZHOU

Dough becomes crumb structure from outer to inner portions by tant role for baking Indian unleavened flat bread (chapati) in a
penetrating heat. A typical browning crust can be observed when direct fired burner oven.
crust temperature reaches 150–205˚C. Finally, the volatilization To measure the total heat flux, Fahloul et al. (1995) used a
of organic substances is designated as the bake-out-loss. This sensor made of copper joined to a steel heat sink by a copper
period also takes one-fourth of the total baking time. bridge fitted with 2 thermocouples. The temperature readings
Schultz (2000) designed an on-line monitoring system for a from these 2 thermocouples together with temperatures of the
travelling tray oven. The oven air temperature was monitored by heat sink and ambience were used to calculate the total heat flux.
thermocouples with thermal shielding to control the baking tem- In 2001, the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute devel-
perature at a set point. The thermocouples were connected to the oped a heat flux sensor capable of measuring convective heat
controller. Temperature readings were acquired via serial lines flux and radiative heat flux separately. The sensor was composed
using the MODBUS RTU protocol. The returned data included of 2 parts: a black sensor and a golden sensor. The black sensor
the measured air temperature, set-point, and the burner state. was used for absorb the total heat flux whereas the golden sensor
5.2. Tin surface temperature profile was used to reflect the radiative heat flux. By subtracting, the
The correlation between air temperature and product quality is radiative heat flux can be calculated (Van Son, 2001). However,
poor because there are some other parameters affecting the prod- both of the sensors could not account for the conductive heat
uct quality at the same time. Therdthai et al. (2002) overcame the flux.
problem by using temperature at the product surface, which is a
consequence of all baking parameters, as a key profile to relate 6. Baking oven design
with the product quality. In a hi-top bread, Thorvaldsson and An oven is basically composed of a baking chamber and a
Skjoldebrand (1998) noticed that temperature on the bottom sur- heating system. The baking chamber is normally designed as a
face was heated up slightly faster than the side surface. This was rectangular box formed by steel lining sheet supported by a steel
due to the heat conduction through the plate. At temperatures frame. Oven walls on top, sides and bottom are insulated. For the
below 80˚C, the top temperature was about 0–10˚C lower than heating, there are several systems to generate heat and supply it
the bottom temperature. Then it became higher than both the bot- to the oven, including fuel oil, natural gas, propane-butane, and
tom and side temperatures which contacted the tin. For a square electricity. Theoretically, fuel oil provides 140,000 BTU per gal,
bread baked in a closed tin, the surface temperature profiles on natural gas provides 37,000 BTU per m3, manufactured gas pro-
top, bottom and side were different from those of the hi-top vides 20,350 BTU per m3 and electricity provides 3142 BTU per
bread. The bottom temperature seemed to be slightly higher than kWh. Electricity is cleaner and easier for maintenance, but the
the top temperature in the later stage of a baking process. cost is not economic. Generally, 1 kg of bread requires around
Therdthai et al. (2002) developed mathematical models to pre- 340–450 BTU to complete a baking. However, additional energy
dict the final crumb temperature, crust color and total weight loss is required to heat the tins (around 90 BTU per kg of dough) and
using the tin surface temperatures. Based on the models, the opti- to compensate for losses through the walls (Matz, 1989).
mized surface temperature profile was proposed to be at 115˚C, Recently CFD has been applied to provide useful information
130˚C, 156˚C and 176˚C in zone1, zone2, zone3 and zone4 to optimize various aspects of baking oven design to improve
respectively, for a total baking time of 27.4 min. Each zone occu- product quality (De Vries et al., 1995). The effect of airflow pat-
pied a quarter of the total baking time. Alternatively, temperature terns in a domestic forced convection oven on heat distribution
profiles for shorter baking times were also presented. All opti- was established. Therefore the oven configuration can be modi-
mum surface temperature profiles aimed to minimize the weight fied to obtain a more uniform heat distribution (Noel et al.,
loss during baking with a completed gelatinization and an ac- 1998). Oven can also be designed to provide an optimum heat
ceptable crust color. flux from the combination of heat transfer modes to the top, bot-
5.3. Heat flux profile tom and side of a product (Carvalho & Nogueira, 1997). Simi-
An alternative way to measure the combined influence of all larly, oven can be manipulated in order to achieve an optimum
baking parameters is the wall heat flux measurement. Heat flux is surface temperature profile. In addition to the quality issues,
defined as the heat transfer rate per unit area that is required for energy consumption and efficiency are also important. Fuhrmann
baking from the oven chamber to the product (Van Son, 2001). et al. (1984) proposed a method to reduce the energy consump-
Heat flux measurement was claimed to be the more useful meth- tion by using a re-circulation system.
od than air temperature measurement, for controlling the quality In addition to the conventional baking ovens as above men-
of bakery products (Fahloul et al., 1995; Carvalho & Nogueira, tioned, microwave ovens have been introduced into baking, due
1997; Van Son, 2001). For bread, Carvalho and Nogueira (1997) to their advantage of saving energy and time and improving nu-
showed the influence of airflow velocity in an oven chamber on tritional quality. However microwave-baked products have yet to
heat flux to bread as well as the possibilities to optimize the heat be fully accepted by the consumers. The difference in product
flux on the top, bottom and side of the product to obtain a better quality is mainly because of the difference in the heat transfer
heat distribution. In addition, radiation was confirmed to be the modes between a conventional baking oven and a microwave
most important heat transfer mode for the baking process of a hi- oven. The microwave increases the product temperature rapidly
top bread, particularly in a natural convection oven. This coin- by enhancing the movement of water molecules. Therefore
cides with the result from a CFD model developed by Velthuis et ambient temperature in the microwave oven is low. As a result,
al. (1993). The fraction of heat transfer modes can be varied the Maillard reactions at the dough surface might not be com-
depending on the product nature and oven type. Gupta (2001) pleted. In addition, a short baking time might cause an incom-
found that conduction heat transfer mode played the most impor- plete starch gelatinization and flavor development (Sumnu,
Recent Advances in the Studies of Bread Baking 225

2001). Therefore, Verboven et al. (2003) tried to modify a tradi- v latent heat (kJ/kg)
tional microwave oven by combining it with natural and forced [Subscripts]
convection regimes. According to a CFD simulation, it was a air
found that the mass transfer coefficient and the uniformity of s surface
heat transfer coefficient at the food surface could be significantly
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