Prevent poor-quality bread and other baked goods by investing in a high-temperature humidity logging system from Reading Thermal. Our solutions will help you improve your products and processes.
The experts at Reading Thermal have researched and investigated the commercial baking process for nearly 25 years. The team developed the SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger, now an industry standard, which measures and maps essential parameters that affect the quality of your baked goods.
Importance of Temperature and Humidity in Baking
As products pass through a thermal process in the oven, they interact with heat and moisture in the environment.
Oven temperatures cause physical and chemical reactions in dough/batter, affecting oven spring, drying/dehydration, and color formation. Temperature extremes can lead to unwelcome changes in texture, taste, and flavor.
Manufacturers of bread, rolls, hamburger buns, artisan bread, cakes, biscuits, or other bread products, know that several stages in the process are temperature-dependent, such as oven-spring, drying/dehydration, and color formation. Too much heat from any direction in the oven can cause loaf bottoms to burn before the crusts are properly browned.
As far as humidity is concerned, the majority of moisture comes directly from the products and can affect finished products in a variety of ways. For example:
- High oven humidity can lighten crust color.
- High oven humidity can increase volume.
- High oven humidity can soften crusts and cause crackers to lose their crispness.
- High oven humidity results in longer baking times because evaporation and gluten coagulation in the crust slows down.
- Lower humidity often results in crustier bread.
- Too little moisture in a product will affect breakage during packaging.
- Too little moisture often causes goods to overbake and turn out to be tough or dry.
- The moisture left in a pretzel after baking will affect its shelf life.
Top Temperature and Humidity Sensors
Temperature: The Scorpion® 2 Temperature Sensor Array connects to the SCORPION® 2 Data Logger. The array was built to measure temperature in fixed positions across the conveyor at the product level, and provides you with a precise picture of temperatures from side to side and end to end.
Humidity: The SCORPION® 2 Digital Humidity Sensor was created to measure the moisture content of the thermal environment in heating and cooling processes. It applies to ovens, dryers, proofers, and cooling tunnels. The sensor includes an exclusive humidity sampling system with patent-pending Anti-Saturation Technology™ that takes measurements in high temperature processes as well as very high dew point processes.
High-temperature humidity logging in your industrial ovens can help you remedy inconsistent quality, moisture retention problems, uneven bakes, and low production capacity. Contact Reading Thermal online or get in touch with us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 in Pennsylvania to explore our state-of-the-art products.