Industrial Baking: Bread, Rusks, Biscuit, and Viennoiseries

Abstract

Bakery products are currently considered essential food items for the majority of the world's population. Bread, rusks, biscuits, and viennoiseries have gained popularity among a wide range of social categories, regardless of age or economic conditions. Urbanization is one of the main drivers of this growing popularity, due to the increasing demand for convenient, affordable products that offer high nutritional qualities as well as a variety of textures and flavors. A substantial supply of energy, proteins, iron, calcium, and other vitamins can be found in bakery products. Bread has a lengthy history among these goods. According to recent archeological findings, baking has been around for almost 23,000 years. By that time, people had found wheat, learned to grind the grains to make flour, mixed it with water, and baked it on stones that had been heated beforehand. This is how the first flatbread made by humans came into existence. Subsequently, bread underwent significant evolution due to the use of yeasts and sourdoughs, thus placing it among the most popular bakery products worldwide. Some products derived from baking but containing additions such as fats, sugars, eggs, and milk have also been developed. These products have experienced significant global expansion and are referred to as viennoiseries. Rusks, traditional bakery products, are characterized by their ease of production, long shelf life, and affordable price, which makes them popular in both urban and rural areas. Biscuits, on the other hand, are among the most popular processed products due to their convenience, portability, and high energy content, making them an essential nutritional supplement for people of all ages. From the traditional basic recipes of artisan bakeries to the industrial recipes of multi-layered products, baked goods today are characterized by a wide range of complexity. Scientific and technological progress is linked to their evolution from traditional forms to current forms with different characteristics. Professionals need to keep up to date in order to increase efficiency, identify priority areas for research and development, launch new products, and forecast future trends in the bakery sector.