Baking and Coloring Characteristics for Frozen Pizza Dough in a Hot-air and Superheated Steam Oven

Abstract

Pizza dough samples were frozen and stored at different temperature (-5̊C, -15̊C, -25̊C, -35̊C and -45̊C) and for different storage periods (1 day, 15 days, 25 days and 35 days) to measure the baking characteristics of the samples in a hot air (HA) and superheated steam (SHS) oven. Baked samples were employed for the measurement of surface color and moisture content. The moisture content of the samples frozen at -5̊C significantly decreased after 15 days of frozen storage. The surface color of the SHS-dried samples changed more drastically than that of HA-dried samples. Compared with HA, the SHS baking showed the potential to give the frozen pizza dough higher thawing rate, less baking time, and faster browning ability. The combined effect of initial condensation, crust thickness and water redistribution from crumbs to crusts might have played important roles in differentiating the HA- and SHS-baked samples. Different freezing temperatures from -5 ℃ to -45 ℃ did not cause any significant difference in color.