Bakery

 

Not many people are aware of bakery products being aerated systems. Examples are sponge cake, pound cake and bread. In the baking process initial gas inclusion is realized by mixing during dough preparation. Both yeast and/or baking powder increase the size of the already existing gas cells created during mixing. The yeast and/or baking powder are producing carbon dioxide during the fermentation proces that is released into the existing initial gas cells and, consequently, resulting in a foamed structure of the dough.

 

There are several conditions paramount for obtaining good dough quality. The recipe and the process conditions will determine to a large extend the quality of the final product by promoting the fermentation process and the final structure of the baked product. However, it is a prerequisite that the risen dough enters the baking process as a stable foam. During the baking process this foam transfers into a sponge structure. A sponge structure is a bi-continuous system of air in a matrix whereas a foam is a dispersed air phase (bubbles) in a continuous matrix. Would the dough foam structure not transfer into a sponge structure during the baking process the final baked product would shrink upon cooling to ambient temperature.

 

Foams.nl can provide advice to stabilize the dough in keeping the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast in it to become a foamed system and to ensure that this foamed system transfers into a sponge structure during baking into a stable sponge structure to avoid shrikage upon cooling. Different solutions are possible going from adaptations in the recipe providing a stable sponge structure upon the baking process to optimisations of the process conditions to optimize structure formation during production.