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Northern Crops Institute

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Northern Crops Institute
Bolley Drive
North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND, USA 58105

Phone: 701-231-7736
Fax: 701-231-7235
Email: nci@ndsu.edu
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New Steam-Injected Oven Installed in Baking Laboratory

Talk to Bonnie Jacobson, NCI’s food technologist, about the baking laboratory’s new steam-injected oven and watch her eyes light up. “It’s a great oven. This oven is similar to ones used in industry. We want to demonstrate the same techniques that our participants use in their own projects.”

According to Technical Director Brian Sorenson, “This oven lets us control the baking operation and gives uniform heat throughout the oven. Products baked in it have better loaf volume, better color, and improved overall appearance. It has the capabilities of a convection type oven, but you also can inject steam, which has a tremendous impact on the quality of the bread, especially when you make specialty type products.”

  
Steam-Injected Oven
Bonnie Jacobson demonstrates the steam-injection oven in NCI’s Baking Laboratory. The new oven is similar to those used in industry.
Jacobson explains that steam is important in bread baking because it keeps the top of the dough moist, which makes the crust thinner and crisper. “You can watch the bread baking. In fact, you can almost see the oven spring—the additional rising that occurs in the oven,” she said.

“Steam injection can be set for 5, 10, 15 or 20 seconds, during which small droplets of water are sprayed into the oven. It is so hot that the water evaporates, but the water keeps the dough moist so it rises quicker and higher in this oven,” she concluded.

The self-venting oven heats up in about 20 minutes, which is a huge improvement over the old one that took about 2 hours. So, it takes less energy to run. A proofing cabinet that accommodates large trays is located below the oven.

“As NCI continues to refine and expand our capabilities in our baking lab, this is the kind of tool that can help us evaluate grains, not only those produced by HRS wheat growers from our region, but also other crops used in specialty breads,” says Sorenson.