Bakery Goods — The journey of Baked Goods, and how they are stored
Wall paintings of the ancient Egyptians, which depict women grinding grain on stons to make flour, are the evidence of how bread was important for the Egyptian culture. Bread in those periods was fairly tough, but it was very easy to move these flat loaves to military camps or hunting regions.
In 2,000 B.C. according to one belief an Egyptian baker left its bread in sunlight, and he came back he found the dough fermented. When the baker put the dough in the oven, he noticed that the bread began rising easily.
Ancient Greeks learned bakery from the Egyptians and began baking similar bread. Then the Greeks taught Romans in 600 B.C.
In 1859, French scientist Louis Pasteur revealed the reaction of microorganisms in the fermentation mechanism. That became another revolution for bread production since the 1870s, pure yeast production began. In 1880, the first successful mechanical mill was built in Switzerland. So whiter and high-quality breads spread.
Bread is a very important, satisfying and nutritious source of carbohydrate that can quickly turn into energy.
In addition to being rich in B vitamins, iron, and magnesium minerals also support food value of bread.
Bread, which is one of the foods that form the basis of the food pyramid, continues to be the favorite food source both in the past and today.
Global wheat production is about 730 million tons in the 2015/16. China is the leader in wheat production with 130 million tons, followed by India with 90 tons and Russia with 60 million tons.
Europeans are undisputed leaders in bread consumption per capita.
Among the European countries, Turkey ranks first in consumption of bread per head with 150 kg.
Serbia ranks second with 125 kg consumption, Bulgaria third with 105 kg, followed by Germany and Russia,
In Europe, bread represents 80% of the baked goods market.
If the most preferred bread is served as fresh, due to difficulties in distribution and better longevity, it is packaged and it is marketed in semi-baked products.
The trade of frozen bread, donuts, cakes, pizza and ravioli started only 15 years ago.
Canadian, Swiss, Mexican and Italian companies were the first to notice this niche market and achieved a large market share worldwide.
The United States, the European Union and Russia have the highest demand for these products. Pizza is the most consumed food among frozen bakery products, and hamburger bun, puff dough, croissant, ravioli and pastry types follow pizza, respectively.
Retail bakeries keep many product types by deep-freezing in order to meet the demand fluctuations.
Who do not like a hot bread that is out of the oven?
But bread production comes from the process of pasting and fermentation.
Today’s people have everything but no time. Two types of yeast are used in the production of bakery products.
The first is for industrial use and dry yeasts are used for rapid production in large-scale factories.
The latter is a traditional sour yeast used in small sized bakeries where fermentation can last from 6 hours to 12 hours delivering breads which are the most delicious ones.
In industrial ovens, it is not more than three and a half hours from the first time the flour meets to form paste with water until the bread is baked and ready.
Bread prices are especially important in underdeveloped and in the developing countries. That is why there is a fierce competition among producers. Aside from the competition in price, the other is to keep the bread fresh continuously.
In order to be able to offer fresh bread in the market, it is now necessary to produce it at the place of consumption. Therefore, small sized ovens were designed, and cabinets set up to 4 degrees offering cold storage in order to slow down the fermentation and keep the consistency to bake bread at any time.
The main act starts in frozen bakery products. Frozen products in this sector are kept at -18 °C after being shocked at -35 /- 40 °C (-95.00/-104.00°F). This application is especially easy to apply for croissant, pastry and similar products that contain more oil, and now many bread types are joining the frozen food chain.
Bakery products that can be stored frozen for a year can be ready for baking at any time thanks to specially designed defrosting and leavening cabinets.
The bakery products sector is constantly developing, following a rising dynamic trend. The marketing in frozen form gave the biggest impact. Any detail of cold and frozen storage is always ready to offer great commercial opportunities and makes our lives easier.
Let us finish our words with a quote from the American biologist Dr. Norman Barloug, born of Norwegian descent:
“If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce more bread, otherwise there will be no peace.”
