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Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Review

Bread baking – A review

Arpita Mondal, A.K. Datta *
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, IIT, Kharagpur 721 302, India

Received 23 May 2007; received in revised form 10 October 2007; accepted 19 November 2007
Available online 23 November 2007

Abstract

Bread is a basic dietary item dating back to the Neolithic era, which is prepared by baking that is carried out in oven. Control of the
production and distribution of bread has been used as a means of exercising political influence over the populace for at least the last two
millennia. Several experimental and mathematical models are developed for clear understanding of baking. This article presents a review
of published literatures on experimental and mathematical studies on bread baking during the last two decades. Baking technology, evo-
lution of baking ingredients, thermophysical properties of bread as functions of moisture content and baking time are reviewed. Exper-
imental and simulative studies on profiling of temperature, moisture content, pore volume, expansion ratio during baking are also
reviewed.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Bread; Experimental; Mathematical models; Crust

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
2. Basic ingredients of bread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
3. Baking technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
4. Properties of bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
5. Experimental studies on baking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
6. Studies on crust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
7. Mathematical modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

1. Introduction The first bread was made around 10,000 years BC or over
12,000 years in the past, which may have been developed
Bread is a basic dietary item dating back to the Neolithic by deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour.
era, which is prepared by baking that is carried out in oven. Egyptians are the pioneers who make the art of bread mak-
ing popular throughout the world. Control of the produc-
*
tion and distribution of bread has been used as a means of
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 3222 283118.
E-mail address: akd@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in (A.K. Datta).
exercising political influence over the populace for at least

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.11.014
466 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474

Nomenclature

cp specific heat capacity, J/kg K v the volume of bubble collapse per unit uncol-
C molar density of gas mixture, mol/m3 lapsed bubble volume, dimensionless; velocity,
Deff effective diffusivity, m2/s m/s
Dvc standard binary diffusivity between vapor and V volume, m3
CO2, m2/s W the liquid water content in kg water/kg product
Dw diffusion coefficient for liquid water, m/s2 x space coordinate, m; molar fraction with sub-
h surface heat transfer coefficient, W/m K script
H0 initial height, m xL height of the product, m
Ht height at time t, m
Ic CO2 production rate, kg/m3 s Greek symbols
Iv evaporation rate, kg/m3 s q apparent density in kg/m3
k conductivity parameters, W/m K; permeability, qm density of gas free dough, kg/m3
m/s q0 collapse density, kg/m3
M total moisture content, kg water/kg dry material e porosity, %
n normal direction when without subscripts, mass a thermal diffusivity, m2/s
flux when with subscripts, kg/s s relaxation time, s
r the heat of evaporation, J/kg /0 porosity at the start of baking, %
p partial pressure, Pa n0 bubble diameter distribution, m
R universal gas constant, 8.314 J/mol K k latent heat, J/kg
S water saturation, %
t time, s Subscripts
T temperature, K c CO2
Ta oven temperature, K c convection
Tair temperature of the surrounding air, K g gas, including air and other gaseous components
Tc collapse temperature, K i dummy indices
Tr temperature of the radiation source, K r radiation
Ts temperature of the surface, K s solid
T0 initial temperature of the sample, K v water vapor
u displacement increment vector, m w liquid water

the last 2000 years. Even today, a shortage of bread is syn-
onymous with hard times, while the promise of its service is
used as rallying call for better life (Scanlon and Zghal,
2001). Currently there are around twenty periodicals
devoted to the studies of cereal science and technology.
This attests to the research effort applied to studies of fac-
tors which affect bread quality. Therefore, the significance
of the commodity itself, and the desire for good quality
in the bread, does seem to warrant ‘‘thorough attention”
by the research community. Although people have prac-
ticed baking for a long time, the understanding of the
whole process is not very clear. One of the possible reasons
for this is that several fundamental complex physical pro-
cesses are coupled during baking like evaporation of water,
volume expansion, gelatinization of starch, denaturation of
protein, crust formation etc. Several experimental and
mathematical models are developed for clear understand-
ing of baking.
The objective of this article is to critically review the
published literature of the last two decades on experimental
and mathematical studies of bread baking to identify the
scopes of further investigation into various aspects of bread
baking with particular reference to the application of pro-
duction of crustless bread which has been marketed by cer-
tain industrial concerns (http://www.ironkids.com; http://
en.wikipedia.org). The stress is on recently published arti-
cles as comprehensive compilation on earlier publication
on bread baking is available in bound form (Cauvain,
2003).
2. Basic ingredients of bread
Water and flour are the most significant ingredients in a
bread recipe, as they affect texture and crumb the most.
Flour (14.5% moisture, 13% protein, 0.55% ash, pH 5.7–
6.1, Zanoni et al., 1993) is always 100%, and the rest of
the ingredients are a percent of that amount by weight.
Approximately 50% water results in a finely textured, light
bread. Most artisan bread formulas contain anywhere from
60% to 75% water. In yeast breads, the higher water per-
centages result in more CO2 bubbles, and a coarser bread
crumb. According to 100% flour rest of the ingredients will
be in following measurements like leavening agent yeast
2%, sugar 4%, salt 2% and shortening agent (ghee or mar-
 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
garine) 3%. Bread is a different food compared to some
other common food items as it is a leavened product
obtained from fermentation of wheat flour sugars liberated
from starch by the action of natural flour enzymes. Fer-
mentation is caused by baker’s yeast which is the trade
name of the organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Due to
fermentation sugar is converted to moisture and CO2. As
water vapor and CO2 expand due to high temperature, they
act as an insulating agent preventing high rate of tempera-
ture rise of bread crumb and the possibility of excessive
moisture evaporation. Sugar is added for initiation of fer-
mentation. Salt is added to strengthen the gluten and to
convert the action of yeast for controlled expansion of
the dough. Shortening (ghee or margarine) is added to
increase the machinability or specifically slicability. As
soon as the dough is properly baked into bread, a product
with superior quality and sensory features occurs. Fresh
bread usually presents an appealing brownish and crunchy
crust, a pleasant aroma, fine slicing characteristics, a soft
and elastic crumb texture, and a moist mouthfeel (Giannou
et al., 2003). Nowadays mechanization, large scale produc-
tion and increased consumer demand for high quality, con-
venience and longer shelf life have created the need for
functional food additives such as emulsifiers and anti-
staling agents in bread to achieve those desired quality
(Stampfli and Nersten, 1995). Addition of emulsifiers is
particularly important for large scale, industrial bread bak-
ing as these impart greater dough strength to withstand
machine handling, improve rate of hydration, improve
crumb structure, improve slicing characteristic, improve
gas holding capacity and extend shelf life.
3. Baking technology
Bakery industry has seen a revolution over the past 150
years. The small artisan bakeries, which were present in
every village, made way for high technological bakery
industry. Industrial mono-production took over from the
high variety bakeries as bread could be produced in a more
efficient way. Productivity became the key of success. Dif-
ferent baking technologies were developed to respond bet-
ter to new market demands (Decock and Cappelle, 2005).
New materials and ingredients were introduced in bread
composition while research generated a constant and
impressive progress in bread making. Continuous improve-
ment in baking technology is worth investigating primarily
for better quality product, development of nutritionally
superior product and economic consideration. Bakery
products differ from other products in that they are leav-
ened or raised to yield baked goods of low density. It is a
yeast-raised product. Leavening is done by CO2 produced
from yeast fermentation. Leavening is produced only if
the gas trapped in a system that will hold it and expand
along with it. Therefore much of baking technology is the
engineering of food structures through formation of cor-
rect dough and batter to trap leavening gases and the fixing
of these structures by the application of heat (Balaji, 1991).
467
Bakery products are produced mainly according to three
methods. First method is the straight dough method where
mixing of ingredients is performed in one step. According
to manufacturer’s choice and available equipment, ingredi-
ents of the dough may differ. Sponge and dough method is
the second one where mixing of ingredients is performed in
two steps. Leavening agent is prepared during the first step.
Yeast and certain quantity of water and flour are mixed
together. The mixture is left to develop for few hours and
afterwards it is mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Chor-
leywood method is the third method where all the ingredi-
ents are mixed in an ultrahigh mixer for few minutes
(Giannou et al., 2003). Proper investigation into these three
methods may reveal more information like optimum bread
quality, energy utilization efficiency, volume expansion etc.
With the introduction of automation in bakery industry
the first fermentation step, the bulk proof was reduced or
even excluded during the mechanization of the bakery.
Dried sourdoughs were also used from specialized compa-
nies to start the baking process. Currently this process has
given way to cooling the dough to 2 °C the day before
and automatic warming of the dough on the day of baking.
By the end of the 1990s improver technology was intro-
duced for the production of preproofed frozen dough. Here
the prefermented frozen dough is fermented prior to freez-
ing. Freezer to oven, ready to bake and freezer to bake are
marketing concepts which are fitting well with this technol-
ogy. The quality of the product is not compromised. How-
ever, the price of the product has increased (Decock and
Cappelle, 2005).
As fresh bread has short shelf life and a number of
chemical and physical changes commonly known as staling
occurs, techniques like freezing of dough etc. to improve
the preservation of bakery products has been analysed.
Bread making procedure from frozen dough involves the
following steps like dough preparation, freezing, thawing
and baking (Giannou et al., 2003). Effect of freezing and
thawing on bread quality can be studied objectively to
develop relationships between temperatures, durations of
holding and shelf life after baking.
4. Properties of bread
A dramatic change of physical and chemical property of
dough takes place during baking. Scanlon and Zghal
(2001) gave a qualitative description of mechanical proper-
ties such as stress, strain and modulas of elasticity of bread.
Material properties which changes with temperature and
moisture content are not readily available. Unklesbay
et al. (1981) determined the thermal conductivity of white
bread during heat processing in forced air convection and
analyzed the relationship among thermal conductivity
and selected physical properties like moisture, volume,
bulk density and porosity. They showed that thermal con-
ductivity values were indirectly linearly dependent, p < 0.05
on volume and porosity and directly linearly dependent on
bulk density and moisture loss. Different thermophysical
468 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
properties of bread such as apparent density, specific heat,
thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity have been given
by Rask (1989). Later Zanoni et al. (1995b) determined
thermal diffusivity and apparent density of bread crust
and crumb as a function of porosity. Results of their exper-
iment showed that the apparent density q (kg/m3) of the
crumb and the crust follows a linear trend as a function
of porosity e (%)
Forthecrumb : q ¼ 979  9:90e ð1Þ
Forthecrust : q ¼ 895  9:0e ð2Þ
However, this result is questionable as crust is generally
found to be heavier than crumb due to reduction of pores
and moisture.
The thermal diffusivity a (m2/s) follows an exponential
trend as a function of porosity
Forthecrumb : a ¼ expð0:01e  15:25Þ ð3Þ
Forthecrust : a ¼ expð0:0062  15:30eÞ ð4Þ
Permeability of dough is related to structure such as pore
size and connectivity. Zhang and Datta (2006) used intrin-
sic permeability value of 2.5  1012 m2 such that internal
pressure can be formed to cause deformation and 1011 m2
for crumb as crumb region has much larger pore size and
better connectivity. Overall permeability was the product
of intrinsic and relative permeability values based on frac-
tion saturation. However, the saturation transition selected
was quite arbitrary.
Rheological properties of dough are also important for
both product quality and process efficiency. Rheological
properties of dough can be related to bakery products spe-
cific volume and textural attributes. Phan-Thien and
Safari-Ardi (1998) gave some rheological properties like
results of storage relaxation and loss moduli over wide
range of strain, frequency and time. Water content was
used as independent variable for analysis of storage modu-
las but other modulli were not as function of water content.
All the data of their experiment were used to construct
relaxation spectra and to test various linear viscoelastic
relations. Finally an excellent agreement was found
between relaxation spectra and between the derived data
and original data which confirmed the consistent testing
procedure and high quality data. Relaxation time is one
of the important rheological properties, which is related
with disappearance of free liquid water at certain tempera-
ture. Following relation of relaxation time as a function of
temperature is obtained from Zhang and Datta (2006)

2

T  65
 
s¼9 arctan þ1 þ2 ð5Þ
p 2
However, effect of moisture content on relaxation time is
lacking.
Farinograph is the most frequently used equipment for
empirical rheological measurements (Razmi-Rad et al.,
2007). They used artificial neural network (ANN) technol-
ogy for predicting the correlation between farinographic
properties of wheat flour dough like water absorption,
dough development time, dough stability time, degree of
dough softening with its chemical composition like protein
content, wet gluten, sedimentation value and falling num-
ber etc. Since the approach of ANN analysis is a black
box simulation, this type of study fails to reveal the physi-
cal understanding behind established correlations, even
though these might be excellent.
The texture and density of baked products such as bread
and cakes are controlled by the way their rheology and
vapor content change during the baking process.
Dobraszczyk and Morgenstern (2003) reviewed the rholog-
ical properties of gluten polymers of wheat flour which in
tern affects the rhological properties of bread. This is a
review where viscosity is shown to be a function of time
without extending the concept to viscoelastic parametric
determinations under static and dynamic conditions.
Thermal conductivity of multiphase porous material like
dough and diffusivity of water vapor in CO2 in pores are
obtained from Zhang and Datta (2006) where
Thermal conductivity k ¼ k sð1nÞ k nS nð1SÞ
w kg ð6Þ
4=3
And mass diffusivity Deff;g ¼ Dvc ½ð1  1:11SÞn ð7Þ
Jury et al. (2007) used line heat source method in unsteady
conditions to measure thermal conductivities of bread dur-
ing thawing and baking of the dough. Their experimental
results of thermal conductivity of bread dough as function
of freezing and baking temperatures were successfully fitted
to parallel model where air, solid, ice and water were con-
sidered to be forming parallel layers of resistances.
Whole wheat contains significant amounts of flavour
pigments such as tricin and xanthophylls. But it lacks car-
otene which adds to yellow colour. Colour development is
a function of moisture content, baking time and baking
temperature. There is large scope of studying these vari-
ables as they affect the colour of the baked dough.
Recognizing the importance of quantitative evaluation
of physicochemical changes, Zanoni et al. (1995c) devel-
oped the kinetic models for starch gelatinization and sur-
face browning of bread during baking. Since starch
gelatinization is one of the critical factors that determines
the baking time and extent of gelatinization in the bread
crumb, it may be taken as a minimum baking index. They
baked the dough in a pilot forced convection electric oven
at 250 °C. Type J thermocouple was used to measure
crumb temperature at a depth of 22 mm in axial position
and bread was extracted at different crumb temperatures.
They used a differential scanning calorimeter to determine
the extent of starch gelatinization and a tristimulus calo-
rimeter was used for the measurement of surface colour.
The extent of starch gelatinization and colour difference
followed the first order kinetics and were modeled using
the Arrhenius equation. Therdthai et al. (2002) developed
a quadratic model to describe the effect of baking temper-
ature and time on the bread quality attributes including
crust colour, crumb temperature and weight loss.
 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
Staling of bread is another complex phenomenon, which
is not yet fully understood. During storage time a large
physico-chemical alteration occurs which leads to crumb
firming, flavour changes and crust cracking loss. Crumb
firming is one of the important parameters, which is gener-
ally used to evaluate staling development. It is believed that
bread staling is closely associated with starch retrograda-
tion. Amylose retrogradation occurs during first hour after
baking and this amylopectin retrogradation is the major
phenomena involved in bread firming (Ribotta and Bail,
2007). However, there is no experimental evidence pre-
sented to quantify these findings.
5. Experimental studies on baking
Baking is the last but most important step in bread mak-
ing procedure. A series of physical, chemical and biological
changes such as evaporation of water, formation of porous
structure, volume expansion, protein denaturation, starch
gelatinization, crust formation etc. take place during bread
baking. Crumb structure of cereal products like bread is a
very important factor determining the sensorial quality as
may be quantified for example as texture or crispness as
well as storage and staling properties. Besides the overall
porosity, which can be measured by gas pycnometric and
density measurements, the pore size distribution plays a
prominent role. Together with the geometrical arrange-
ment of the pores, it is also determining the surface-to-vol-
ume ratio as well as the pore connectivity, both strongly
influencing the velocity of (undesirable) changes during
storage whereas the pore size distribution may be estimated
by analysis of 2-dimensional (2D) images by optical scan-
ning, magnetic resonance imaging and Monte Carlo Simu-
lation (Regier et al., 2007). The authors used these
techniques on breakfast cereals. Similar attempts can be
made on breads baked by various combinations of temper-
atures, durations and moisture levels. Temperature is the
dominating factor in various physicochemical changes dur-
ing baking. To reduce energy consumption and to improve
product quality, optimization of oven operating condition
is required. To achieve optimal baking, the common indus-
trial practice is to bake bread in the oven controlled at a
constant temperature. The prediction of baking perfor-
mance of wheat sample is a difficult task as mechanism
of baking is not fully understood. Bread volume is one of
the important measurements of wheat quality. Protein
and lipid contents are also very important factors for bak-
ing properties. Andersson et al. (1994) investigated the
quality and stability of models for predicting baking per-
formance, based on grain and flour composition, including
analysis of the non-starch polysaccharides and dough
property parameters. Wong et al. (2007) applied a two
dimensional (2D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
model to design process controller for an industrial contin-
uous bread-baking oven. The authors developed a multiple
input–multiple output (MIMO) controller system based on
temperature sensing and flame control. The quality and
469
shelf life of baked product is affected by the time and tem-
perature of the baking process. Patel et al. (2005) investi-
gated moisture loss, firmness, enthalpy, amylase content
and viscosity as functions of heating rates. The extent of
starch granule hydration, swelling, dispersion, and the
extent of reassociation were affected by the heating rates
during baking. However, this study fails to establish the
change in properties of baked products as functions of time
during baking. Heating rate should not be a factor in com-
mercial baking as ovens are preset at baking temperature.
It is expected that increased temperature would promote
the formation of protein cross links, causing setting of loaf
during baking. Singh (2005) studied molecular changes of
wheat protein during bread baking using SE-HPLC. His
work confirmed the earlier findings of the researchers that
polymeric proteins tend to decrease while low molecular
weight proteins tend to increase during bread baking. This
work also confirmed that intra and inter molecular disul-
fide bonds of gluten proteins are important in forming
the gluten matrix in dough. Decrease in protein solubility
due to aggregation or cross-linking was observed with time
of baking. Size exclusion HPLC also revealed that b-
mercaptoethanol was able to reduce most of the proteins
which indicated that disulfide bonds are mainly responsible
for protein insolubility. Caballero et al. (2007) analyzed the
individual and synergistic effects of some gluten-crosslink-
ing enzymes (transglutaminase, glucose oxidase, laccase,
pentosanase and protease), along with polysaccharide
and gluten degrading enzymes (alpha-amylase, xylanase
and protease) on dynamic viscoelastic properties of dough.
Among all gluten cross linking enzymes analysed, dynamic
rheological test only showed a significant single effect of
transglutaminase. Protease decreased dynamic modulli at
all studied resting periods while polysaccharide-degrading
enzymes modified dough rheology after 180 min of incuba-
tion. Bread quality parameters of doughs were significantly
affected by individual enzyme addition, except when lac-
case was used. The physical properties of wheat flour
undergoes a series of changing procedure known as gelati-
nization during baking. This gelatinized starch results in an
amorphous structure in final bread (Primo-Martin et al.,
2006). Confocal scanning laser microscopy of the structure
of bread crust revealed a continuous protein phase and a
discontinuous non-gelatinized starch phase in the outer
crust. In contrast, the crumb and inner crust showed a gel-
atinized starch network associated with a protein network.
The role of the protein phase of the outer crust in determin-
ing crispness has been studied by the same author. Oppor-
tunity exists for developing reaction kinetics for
denaturation of gluten and gelatinization of starch as func-
tions of crust and crumb temperatures.
The denaturation of protein and gelatinization of starch
both affect the diffusion of water by releasing and absorb-
ing water. These two phenomena occur during the same
temperature interval of 60–85 °C and contribute to the
change from dough to crumb. Higher temperature of sur-
face of the dough and heat transport towards the center
470 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
of the dough results in water content rise in the center of a
loaf due to evaporation and condensation. There was no
method to study the changes in local water content during
processing without interrupting the process and destroying
the material. Thorvaldson and Skjoldebrnd (1998) devel-
oped a process to study continuous heat and water trans-
port in bread during baking using a fiber optic NIR
instrument and thermocouples which is described in detail
by Thorvaldson and Skjoldebrnd (1996). Their experiment
showed that water appeared to be moving towards the
coldest region and not towards the geometrical center.
Heat and mass transfer phenomena are taking place
simultaneously during bread baking which causes physi-
cal, chemical and structural transformation (Sablani
et al., 1998). There are four phases in transport process,
i.e., solid, liquid water, water vapor and CO2 (Zhang and
Datta, 2005). To know the baking process in detail it is
necessary to know all these processes together. The rising
temperature during baking causes thermal expansion of
vapor and raises the saturation pressure of water within
the dough. This leads to a local expansion but at the
same time forces compression and higher densities else-
where. Gandikota and MacRitchie (2005) developed an
instrument for measuring the expansion capacity of
dough based on the application of a known negative
pressure and measurement of the height reached by the
dough using a dough height tracker as baking does not
appear to influence expansion. CO2 also plays an impor-
tant role in the expansion of bubbles during bread bak-
ing. It is also released from the bread when the bubble
walls start to break under pressure, making the porous
structure more continuous and open to the outside of
the bread. However, repeatability of these findings is
not very well documented. Dixon and Kell (1989)
reviewed how the temperature and the humidity inside
the leavening chamber influence the rate of generation
of CO2 in the dough. They cite colourimetric and amper-
ometric techniques to measure CO2 concentrations.
Lucas et al. (2007) proposed a method for correcting
CO2 measurement from the air replacement-taking place
in ventilated ovens using infrared detection and gas chro-
matography techniques. Their findings show near normal
distribution of CO2 evolved over baking duration.
It is known that one reason for the cessation of dough
expansion during baking is the resistance of the dough to
extension (Zhang et al., 2007). Depending on the rheolog-
ical properties like elasticity and viscosity, the closed cell
membranes in the dough may resist expansion. Starch gela-
tinization in the cell membranes occurs above 65 °C,
increases dough viscosity and impairs the extensibility of
the dough, which results in increased pressure in closed
gas cells leading to rupture of the cell membranes. As a
result, the gas molecules will exchange between adjacent
cells and ultimately be transported to the outside of the
dough, resulting in a loss of gas and presumably limited
capacity for expansion. This article gives a good explana-
tion of physical interrelationship between gas expansion,
dough expansion, starch gelatinization and rheological
parameters.
Lagrain et al. (2006) used the Biot–Allerd model of elas-
tic wave propagation in fluid saturated porous media using
non-contact ultrasound waves between 40 kHz and 1 MHz
to measure open porosity, tortuosity, viscous and thermal
characteristic lengths. Their results were validated by use
of digital image analysis of fine and coarse grain breads.
Results of phase velocity and absorption coefficient as
functions of frequency matched with model analysis. But
attenuation results at high frequency did not produce good
agreement with the model.
6. Studies on crust
During baking crust forms as maximum evaporation
takes place there (Therdthai et al., 2002). Crust formation
is one of the limiting factors, which restricts the expansion
of the dough (Zhang et al., 2007). Zanoni et al. (1994) sug-
gested that crust could restrict water vapor flow from pore
to the dough surface. The constraints developed by crust
on the crumb structure have rarely been studied. Zhang
et al. (2007) designed artificial covers to study the effects
of crust constraints on bread expansion and gas released
during baking. Different cover levels were set at 45 mm,
50 mm and at 55 mm as the maximum height reached
under that condition was 60 mm. MRI images evaluated
porosity kinetics which showed that different cover levels
result densification within the crumb structure like later
the cover encounter the dough, deeper the dense crumb.
An infrared detector was used to monitor CO2 release,
which showed that lower the cover level shorter was the
induction time. The formation of crust and browning dur-
ing baking appear to be primary contributors to the forma-
tion of bread flavour. The browning is mainly the result of
a Maillard type browning reaction rather than of caramel-
ization. Crust browning occurs when the temperature is
greater than 110 °C and it showed an experimental correla-
tion with weight loss during baking and with oven temper-
ature. Zanoni et al. (1995a) developed a kinetic model for
browning kinetics of bread crust by instant heating of
dehydrated and milled bread crumb on contact with a
refractory plate at 140, 150, 165, 185, 210, 235 and
250 °C when colour was measured with a tristimulus colou-
rimeter. The model which followed first order kinetics and
which was dependent on surface temperature predicted
crust browning during bread baking at 200 and 250 °C
under forced convection. But the results were acceptable
at 250 °C. Surface colour is another important characteris-
tic of baked products which may be considered as a critical
index of baking (Zanoni et al., 1995a). The Maillard reac-
tion is important for the formation of colour and aroma in
the bread crust, but may also be associated with the forma-
tion of toxic compounds such as acrylamide which is car-
cinogenic. Brathen and Knutsen (2005) examined the
effect of baking time and temperature on the formation
of acrylamide in bread, flat bread, dry starch system and
 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
dried rye-based flat bread. Up to 10 g/kg acrylamide for-
mation was reported. This opens up the possibility of sig-
nificant alteration in baking process so that crust
formation is minimized. Ahrne et al. (2007) determined
the effect of crust temperature and water content on acryl-
amide formation in bread crust. According to their findings
relatively lower value of acrylamide was observed in the
case of high temperature baking and low water content
but that is unacceptable from a consumer stand point as
the bread is too dark and other sensory attributes of the
bread are unacceptable. So they introduced steam and fall-
ing temperature baking that can produce bread with an
acceptable crust colour and significantly reduced acrylam-
ide content. Applying to different baking techniques like
traditional and highly convective at low temperature
Wahlby and Skjoldebrand (2002) determined buns surface
colour using a food analyzer, which calculates the amount
of reflected light through a black and white photo of the
surface. Finally the authors concluded that development
of crust browning depends mainly on oven temperature
and has an experimental correlation with the weight loss
during baking and crust is not a thermal insulation layer
rather it acts like a barrier towards weight loss as weight
loss is a good representation of moisture variation at
product surface during baking. Purlis and Salvadori
(2007) proposed a model to predict the development of
browning during baking by measuring surface colour
and weight loss variation under natural and forced
convection at three temperatures 180, 200 and 220 °C.
Different thermal properties like effective thermal conduc-
tivity, specific heat and density are very much influenced
by the water content and oven temperature. These prop-
erties play a role between pressurization, setting and
brusting, and the consequent final porosity and density
of the loaf. Jefferson et al. (2007) developed a model
for the heat transport and density evolution for predict-
ing the final density variation near the surface of the loaf
based on collapse mechanism. The model was based on
the simple idea of dough movement due to bubble col-
lapse coupled with heat equations with a temperature
dependent thermal conductivity in the wet part of the
dough and a vaporization boundary governed by a Ste-
fan condition. Jefferson et al. (2006) gave a collapsed
density and bubble diameter distribution at the bread
surface, which were obtained from model parameters.
The expression for collapse density is
q0 ¼ ½qm ð1  /0 Þ=½1  /0 v0  where v0 ¼ vðn0 Þ
and bubble diameter distribution is
n0 ¼ T ðk 1 ek 2Te Þ=hðT a  T c Þ
But their experimental result suggested that interaction
between model parameters were relatively weak and also
their result showed that crust thickness was sensitive to
bubble collapsed temperature and dough’s vapor pressure
but relatively insensitive to preoven dough conditions and
properties of dry crust.
471
Sommier et al. (2005) constructed a conventional pilot
static oven to study traditional French bread baking.
Vapor injection and temperature settings were controlled
while the main variables such as temperature, moisture
content, internal pressure and dough section were mea-
sured. These variables were observed as functions of mac-
roscopic changes such as dough expansion, scars opening
and crust formation. They clearly distinguished three
stages in bread baking which are expansion, crut formation
and crust setting accompanied with loaf shrinkage.
7. Mathematical modeling
Baking involves temperature, moisture content and vol-
ume changes that are strongly coupled. Lots of modeling
has been developed on baking considering individual
phenomena taking place during baking. Some researchers
proposed detailed mathematical models based on the
physical properties of the ingredients involved in the
leavening process. For instance, the model proposed by
De Cindio and Correra (1995) studied the process of gas
bubble expansion in leavened general goods and can pre-
dict accurately the softness, firmness (water content) and
acidity of the leavened product. A mathematical model
for dough expansion during the subsequent oven rise has
also been introduced by Fan et al. (1999). Their model
showed that dough volume increase almost linearly with
time up to 65 °C, after then it expands at a reduced rate.
The model also indicated that bubble growth is controlled
by the partition of CO2 and water between aqueous and
bubble phases during initial baking stages and continu-
ously increasing viscosity increased the resistance to bub-
ble growth. Sometime moisture change is treated as
simple diffusion process but in reality water evaporation
and pressure driven flow coexists (Zanoni et al., 1994).
It is very well known that thermophysical and dielectric
properties of food depends very strongly on moisture con-
tent and temperature, especially for hygroscopic materials.
Based on these fundamentals Tong and Lund (1993)
developed a computer model to predict temperature and
moisture content during microwave heating of baked
dough using Crank–Nicholson finite-difference method.
But they only considered transport phenomena and
neglected the deformation that takes place during baking.
This work can very surely be extended to include volume
expansion. Similarly studies of Itaya et al. (1995) consid-
ð8Þ ered only deformation assuming transport phenomena
can be solved independently. They simulated heat and
moisture transfer and hygrostress formation for the lay-
ered bricks which are made by hydrates of starch powders
ð9Þ
and of starch powders–sucrose 3:1 mixture subjected to
forced air drying. Simulated results agreed with the exper-
imental results. Both the results agreed that layer arrange-
ment has strong influence on moisture transfer and stress
formation and less influence on heat transfer. But it is
important to study these processes altogether. Zanoni
and Peri (1993) developed a phenomenological hypothesis
472 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474

of bread baking showing that variation in temperature Opportunity exists for these coupled equations to be solved
and moisture of bread baking are determined by the for- using finite difference or finite element methods by applying
mation of an evaporation front at 100 °C, the progressive initial and boundary conditions.
advancing of which towards the inside causes increase in Similarly, most diffusion simulation models for the dry-
crust thickness. They determined temperature, moisture ing of food consider liquid water and water vapor diffusion
and volume during the baking process of a leavened bread as a single phenomenon. They developed an apparent dif-
sample. They measured volume of bread during baking fusion coefficient which is a function of concentration gra-
according to Hoseney (1985) who pointed out that the dient as a result of the decreasing water content at the
volume varies linearly as function of time until reaching surface. Thorvaldsson and Janestad (1999) suggested that
a maximum value and then decreased linearly until com- concentration gradient occurs not only because of the dry-
pletion of experiment. Zanoni and Peri (1993) expressed ing of surface but also as a result of diffusion of water
the relative height of the sample by the following vapor towards the centre. They correlated the diffusion
relationships with temperature by the saturated partial water vapor pres-
Ht sure. They developed a mathematical model based on Fou-
¼ 1:07 þ ð9:2  104 tÞ when t 6 1140 s ð10Þ rier’s and Fick’s law to determine the temperature using the
H0
heat transfer equations following:
Ht
¼ 2:61  ð4:5  104 tÞ when t > 1140 s ð11Þ oT 1
  
o oT

1 oW
H0 ¼ k þ k
ot qcp ox ox cp ot
Zhang and Datta (2006) developed a model considering
xL
heat and moisture transport that is fully coupled with large when 0 < x < ; t > 0 ð19Þ
volume change. The authors developed governing equa- 2
tions for multiphase transport in a porous medium based The following boundary conditions were applied
on the conservation of energy and three mass species of li-  
oT
 
oW
quid water, water vapor and CO2 gas as follows: k ¼hr ðT r T s Þþhc ðT air T s Þkqw Dw ð20Þ
ox ox x¼0
For energy conservation   x¼0
oT
o
P

qi cpi T X ¼0; T ðx;0Þ¼T 0 ðxÞ; 06x6xL =2 ð21Þ
þ qi cpi r  ðvi T Þ ¼ r  ðkrT Þ  kI v ð12Þ ox x¼xL =2
ot
for liquid water conservation:
8. Conclusion
oM qM oðr  uÞ
qs þ ¼ r  nw  I v ð13Þ
ot ot Review of published literatures revealed records of quite
for water vapor conservation: advanced studies on experimental, analytical, instrumental
and numerical analysis of bread baking. Experimental
oðpv M v =RT Þ ð1  SÞqv oðr  uÞ studies are mainly concentrated on measurements of tem-
eð1  SÞ þ
ot ot perature, volume expansion and moisture content at vari-
¼ r  nv þ I v ð14Þ ous stages of baking. Analytical studies are based mainly
on estimation of energy requirement and rheological prop-
for CO2 conservation:
erties of bread during baking process. Colourimetric anal-
oðpc M c =RT Þ ð1  SÞqc oðr  uÞ ysis of bread baking has also been reported to indicate the
eð1  SÞ þ
ot ot end point of baking. Reaction kinetics of enzyme catalyzed
¼ r  nc þ I c ð15Þ process of dough development was also reported. Total
CO2 evolution during baking, increase in porosity of bread
the vapor flux nv and CO2 flux nc are due to total pressure crumb and bubble collapse phenomena have been analyzed
gradient and binary diffusion. by a few researchers. Microwave baking of bread has also
kg been modeled by Zhang and Datta (2006). Presence of
nv ¼ qv ðrpv þ rpc Þ  M v CDeff;g rxv ð16Þ
lg acrylamide, which is carcinogen, in bread crust is reported
kg by Brathen and Knutsen (2005) and Ahrne et al. (2007). As
nc ¼ qc ðrpv þ rpc Þ  M a CDeff;g rxc ð17Þ pointed out throughout the text of this article, there are
lg
enough opportunities for Food Engineers to take up the
Liquid water transport is due to water pressure gradient challenges of investigating deeper into the process of bread
and can be described using Darcy’s Law. baking. Besides, the baking process itself can withstand
kw kw improvement to produce better quality product, retain
nw ¼ qw rpw ¼ qw rðpv þ pc Þ  qw Dw rM ð18Þ more of the nutrients and economize energy utilization.
lw lw
This particular review brings to light the recent technolog-
They also carried out sensitivity analysis for certain mate- ical applications in the field of bread baking. As was men-
rial properties to show their relative influences on baking. tioned earlier bread baking is an art that has existed for
 A. Mondal, A.K. Datta / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 465–474
over 12,000 years. But recent scientific, technological and
instrumental breakthroughs can find wide applications in
baking industry leading to better quality product at
reduced cost.
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