Using microwave heating for baking

The current and potential uses of microwave heating in the food industry are many and are of growing importance. In baking process, internal heating quickly achieves desire final temperature throughout the product. Microwaves can be combined with external heating by air or infrared to obtain crust.

A combination of microwaves with other modes of heating were found to improve uniformity of microwave heating and provide more control on the moisture transport while increasing the speed of heating.

Hybrid ovens combining impingement with microwave have been introduced to produce a brown and crisp crust in microwave-baked products. The process of directing jest of fluid at the surface to accelerate the surface heating is referred to as impingement.

In halogen lamp-microwave combination baking, microwave can penetrate into products and thus rapidly heat the products from the inside. Halogen lamp heating provides near-infrared radiation light with high frequency and low penetration depth, which is focused on the surface of food products and increases the surface temperature for browning.

Combining microwave with IR heating is becoming a more commonly use technology in baking. IR-microwave combination oven combines the browning and crisping advantages of IR heating with the time-saving advantage of microwave heating. This technology has been used in bread baking and reduced the conventional baking time by about 75%.
Using microwave heating for baking