Experimental validation of product quality model for bread baking process

Bread product quality is highly dependent to the baking process. A model for the development of product quality of bread products has been calibrated by experiments at a fixed baking temperature of 200°C and in combination with 100 W of microwave powers. The parameters in this model were estimated in sequence procedures: heat and mass transfer, then product transformations and finally product quality parameters. The results showed that there was an agreement between the calibrated model and the experimental data. Furthermore, the microwave input contributed significantly to the internal product properties but not for the surface properties as crispness and color. Despite the limited calibration with fixed operation settings, the model predicted well on the behavior under dynamic convective operation and on combined convective and microwave operation. It was expected that the suitability between model and baking system could be improved further by performing calibration experiments at higher temperature and various microwave power levels.