Mixing
Mixing is the first step in the baking process - it involves the combination of ingredients by mechanical energy and sometimes chemical reactions. The most common ingredients in bread are: flour, water, yeast, salt and oil/butter. The mixing process serves the dual purpose of distributing the water equally throughout the flour and then adding kinetic energy to begin the formation of gluten chains in the mixture. The physics in this part of the process is found mostly in the transformation of mechanical energy from the mixer or person mixing into chemical energy in the gluten chains which is underlied by the principle of the conservation of energy.
Mixing is the first step in the baking process - it involves the combination of ingredients by mechanical energy and sometimes chemical reactions. The most common ingredients in bread are: flour, water, yeast, salt and oil/butter. The mixing process serves the dual purpose of distributing the water equally throughout the flour and then adding kinetic energy to begin the formation of gluten chains in the mixture. The physics in this part of the process is found mostly in the transformation of mechanical energy from the mixer or person mixing into chemical energy in the gluten chains which is underlied by the principle of the conservation of energy.
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