3D PRINTING
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Will we 3D print the bread of the future? There are numerous challenges using a 3D printer to produce bread, from adapting the recipe to reproducing its texture and pore distribution. The aim is to have the resulting product taste and smell like bread. To achieve this, the 3D printing process offers the advantage of its ability to react flexibly to all requirements by individually adapting the different process steps. Here are
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The manufacturing process of 3D printing has already established itself in various industries over the last few years. In the food sector, however, the application is still in Research and Development. The innovation potential in the food industry is considered to be high and the number of scientific publications has increased disproportionately over the last few years, from 19 in 2010 to 129 in 2015 and 821 in 2020 (sciencedirekt.com) (R. Derossi et al., 2021). In this context, 3D printing technology combines mechanical manufacturing with digital processing, which enables the rapid and conflict-free customization of products. The created objects are transmitted to the 3D printer using appropriate software, which then builds them layer by layer. This allows both the shape and the interior of the printed object to be customized. For example, new geometries, unusual textures and customized nutrient contents can be made possible, thus also reducing food waste (Godoi et al., 2016). The challenges of producing bread with a 3D printer are quite different. First, the recipe of the dough must be adapted so that it can be printed. The viscoelastic properties of the dough play a decisive role here. Then the different textures of the bread (crumb and crust) must be reproduced
in a product-typical manner by means of suitable product design and post-processing. Attention must be paid to the different pore distributions as well as to the different texture impressions between elastic (especially in the crumb) and firm (especially in the crust). Crucial for this is above all a heating step that can be integrated into the 3D printing process in order to stabilize the printing mass after printing and also to improve its digestibility. Finally, it is of course also important that the bread from the 3D printer tastes and smells like real bread. In conventional bread, the aroma is primarily formed by the fermentation of yeast and/or sourdough as well as the formation of roast aromas during baking (Pico et al., 2015). As the use of yeast and other leavening agents in a pressurized process is currently not possible, as this would change the properties of the pressurized mass over time, the aroma must be added elsewhere or created through post-processing. A decisive advantage of the 3D printing process is, as already mentioned above, the ability to react flexibly to all requirements by individually adapting the different process steps. It is important to understand the individual process steps of the 3D printer in order to be able to make the desired settings. If each distinct area of food 3D
WILL W T HE E 3 BDRPE RA IDN T O FT H TH E EB R FU EA TU D ROEF CTOHMEE F FURTOUM R ET?H E 3 D P R I N T E R ?
the technical requirements and the current state of research in the field.
