Influence of electrical and hybrid heating on bread quality during baking.

Energy efficiency and product quality are the key
factors for any food processing industry. The aim of the study
was to develop energy and time efficient baking process. The
hybrid heating (Infrared + Electrical) oven was designed and
fabricated using two infrared lamps and electric heating coils.
The developed oven can be operated in serial or combined
heating modes. The standardized baking conditions were
18 min at 220°C to produce the bread from hybrid heating
oven. Effect of baking with hybrid heating mode (H-1 and
H-2, hybrid oven) on the quality characteristics of bread as
against conventional heating mode (C-1, pilot scale oven; C-2,
hybrid oven) was studied. The results showed that breads baked
in hybrid heating mode (H-2) had higher moisture content
(28.87%), higher volume (670 cm3), lower crumb firmness
value (374.6 g), and overall quality score (67.0) comparable to
conventional baking process (68.5). Moreover, bread baked in
hybrid heating mode showed 28% reduction in baking time.