Microwave Baking

Microwave baking is one of the non-conventional baking technologies that demonstrates superiorities over conventional baking owing to its time and energy saving advantages. Production of crustless wheat or gluten-free (GF) breads and cakes or GF breads with low starch digestibility are some of the successful application areas of microwave baking. However, related to its rapid heating mechanism and its interaction with the main constituent of bakery products, such as starch, gluten, undesirable quality defects can be observed in microwaved-bakery products. Formulation and technology based approaches have been proposed to solve these challenges/limitations. Use of food additives, such as enzymes, gums, and emulsifiers and microwave-combined baking technologies are the main formulation and technology based approaches, respectively. This chapter provides a brief information about microwave heating mechanism during baking and a comprehensive information about the formulation and technology based approaches to solve the challenges related to microwave baking, considering the quality and staling of bakery products.