Optimization of cup bread baking in household electric oven

Abstract

In bread making, baking is a key step in which the raw dough piece is transformed into a light, porous,
readily digestible and flavourful product. Bread baking is a low margin scale industry so it is a challenging
task to produce a large quantity of good quality breads with low cost. To hasten the baking process in a
normal Household oven, optimization of operating parameters is needed. In this study wheat flour, sugar,
salt, yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae), ghee and water mixed and made into cup breads. These breads
were baked in house hold conventional oven at three different temperatures 175C, 200C and 225C for 5
to 30 min with an increment of 5 min at each temperature. After baking the crumb moisture content, crust
hardness, colour was determined and sensory evaluation was also carried out. From results, the optimized
operating parameters were found as at 175C, baking time is 30 min; at 200C, baking time is 25 min and at 225C the baking time is 20 min.