Parbaking

Parbaking is a cooking technique in which a bread or dough product is partially baked and then rapidly frozen for storage. The raw dough is baked as if normal, but halted at about 80% of the normal cooking time, when it is rapidly cooled and frozen. The partial cooking kills the yeast in the bread mixture, and sets the internal structure of the proteins and starches (the spongy texture of the bread), so that it is now essentially cooked inside, but not so far as to have generated "crust" or other externally desirable qualities that are difficult to preserve once fully cooked.

The parbaked loaf of semi-cooked bread is now in a form that is relatively stable against aging, and highly suitable for transportation and storage until needed. Kept in a sealed container (which prevents moisture loss in addition to the frozen state of the bread), it appears as a risen loaf of bread, with much of the firmness of a finished loaf, but without a browned or golden crust (in the case of a normally light colored bread), and does not age or become stale like a fully baked loaf of bread. Fact|date=May 2007

When the final bread product is desired, the parbaked loaf is "finished off" by baking at normal temperatures for an additional 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the specific tested instructions). The final product is then, in many cases, indistinguishable from a normally baked product.

A revolution for costs and supply of bread

The simple technique of parbaking has resulted in an interesting shift in the economics, i.e. supply and demand, of freshly baked bread. The critical aspect of the technique is that it allows manufacturers of bread to prepare, and then distribute bread to a market far beyond their previous geographic limitations. In the past, the roughly one day expiration period of fresh baked bread limited the reach of small bakeries to a local market (significant transport times would waste too much of the bread's useful life). However, with a parbaked product that is essentially ageless until final baking, a bakery with formerly limited local appeal due to geography could now supply many different faraway outlets with breads ready for baking on demand.

The advent of parbaking can result in significant cost savings (and thus competitive advantages) for the multiple parties involved. The source bakery benefits from being able to efficiently market to a much larger audience, because its range is no longer limited by the bread's expiration. More varieties of bread can be produced for this larger market, because of the certainty that it will be consumed eventually even if the consumer demand for the specialty bread is only at a low rate (because the product is not wasted if unconsumed). Also, commercial buyers of the bread can buy larger quantities without fear of expiration before purchase by consumers.

Supermarkets (secondary distributors) in the process also benefit, because the parbaking technique allows them to reduce the need for skilled bakers on their store premises. Because only a finishing bake is necessary, simple instructions and baking times are easy for untrained store personnel to accomplish without difficulty. Instead of a fully dedicated baking facility with specialized tools and kitchens, only a simple oven is now needed. In addition, only that bread which is anticipated to be sold needs to be baked. As bread sells out through the day, more can be baked, and only if needed. Since most of the baking process occurs at the source bakery, the source bakery can ensure that their branded product will reach consumers in peak quality. Parbaking has enabled the creation of national bakery brands distributed in either supermarkets or at branded retail shops; examples include PAUL and Brioches la Boulangere in France; Au Bon Pain, Panera, and [http://www.signaturebreads.com Signature Breads] in the United States; and Tim Hortons in Canada.

Finally, the consumer benefits, because an essentially freshly baked bread is now available in markets where it may not have previously been available due to geography/other factors. Thus small towns without specialty bakeries can benefit from the choice newly made available. For example, fresh bread can be advertised to supermarket shoppers, baked within about 15 minutes of ordering, and these consumers can be introduced to a much greater variety of bread because of the willingness of the store to stock special breads, beyond the standard generic white bread, that might have been risky to carry previously.

One issue of interest is that the parbaking technique on the other hand, upsets the dynamic of the local "artisanal" producer if one already exists in a neighborhood, for example. If parbaked bread is introduced to consumers previously accustomed to such local products, and the new parbaked product is equally palatable, and available at lower cost (due to efficiencies achieved by mass distribution), the local producer may be at a disadvantage.

External links

* [http://www.bakingbusiness.com/tech/channel.asp?ArticleID=64959 "Baking Business", discussion on the economics and techniques of parbaking]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082300291.html?nav=hcmodule "Washington Post", "The Fall and Rise of French Bread"]
* [http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A22441 "Indy Week", "Shooting at Par"]