Computational fluid dynamics modeling of bread baking process

Abstract

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed to study the temperature and browning profile of bread. This study differs from previous work of CFD modeling reported in literature in that phase change during evaporation as well as evaporation–condensation mechanism during baking process was incorporated in this model. Simulation results were validated with experimental measurements of bread temperature at three different positions. In this study crumb temperature does not cross 100 °C due to incorporation of evaporation–condensation mechanism in this model. Baking process completes within 25 min of processing time once the temperature of crumb becomes stable at 98 °C. Formation of crust and browning of bread surface were studied using earlier reported kinetic model and it predicted more browning at bread edges than the surfaces. However, predicted browning index was well within the range (< 52).