Abstract
Recently, many researchers are focusing their attention to food process modelling as a tool for optimizing not only the energetic and economic aspects, but also the final product texture, flavour and nutritional value. Modelling is also a valid instrument for better understanding the different scales of the cooking process. Due to its wide consumption, bread is one of the most studied foodstuffs, whose estimated production is about 9 billion kg/y (Heenan et al., 2008). The objective of this work is to analyze some of the main phenomena related to bread baking and to characterize cause-effect relationships between selected operating conditions and the final bread quality. From this viewpoint, an important role is played by the identification of the right markers that have to be taken into account for the representation of the bread quality, both from a consumer perception (Gellynck et al., 2009), from a nutritional perspective (Gellynck et al., 2009) and from that of engineers (Mondal and Datta, 2008). In addition to this, it is of relevant importance to properly characterize the most relevant physical and chemical aspects. This step is related to the analysis, choice and implementation of the models for reproducing the dynamics of the main involved phenomena. Heat exchange, water evaporation, weight loss, crust formation and browning, starch gelatinization, odours development, to quote a few, are directly depending from the baking conditions. Some of them have been modelled by several authors with different degree of detail. Assembling some of the literature models, a general model for temperature and water content/weight loss dynamics is obtained and validated with experimental data. Some correlations are used for the representation of other phenomena such as starch gelatinization and other chemical reactions, like those related to protein-sugars interactions and the following compounds development (Maillard Reaction). The present work represents a first step towards the achievement of a more comprehensive study for modeling and understanding food cooking in domestic ovens. A special attention will be addressed to the development of a reliable chemical kinetic scheme.
