Shrink the Space, Save the Crust: The New Math of Vacuum Cooling in Bakeries
Vacuum cooling has steadily gained a place in the spotlight of the baking industry for its ability to shorten cooling times, improve product quality, extend shelf life, and reduce space and energy demands. As bakeries increasingly face pressures to optimize production, ensure consistent quality, and meet sustainability goals, vacuum cooling offers a transformative approach to post-baking operations.
Vacuum cooling operates on a straightforward physical principle: by reducing the ambient pressure around a baked product, the boiling point of water within it also drops. Water inside the product begins to evaporate at lower temperatures, extracting heat in the process and thereby cooling the product rapidly. “Boiling water requires energy—this is well-known. In the oven, a significant amount of heat energy is transferred into the bread to boil the water within it. Inside the vacuum system, the air pressure is reduced, which lowers the boiling point of the water. This forces the water in the bread to continue boiling, and the necessary heat energy is drawn out of the bread,” explains a technical note from Weber Cooling.
The outcome is a product that can cool down from around 95°C to approximately 30°C in just a few minutes. In traditional cooling processes, cooling spirals or tunnels are used, where products cool at ambient temperatures over extended periods. Such systems are space-intensive, energy-consuming, and expose products to contamination risks during their slow cooling phases. Vacuum cooling, by contrast, dramatically shortens this vulnerable window, enhancing food safety and operational efficiency.
Applications in the Baking Industry
Vacuum cooling has found applications across various baked goods including baguettes, sandwich breads, pastries, cookies, and artisan loaves. The method is particularly useful for products that require precise texture control, moisture retention, and crust development. Notably, the rapid cooling stabilizes the product structure without prolonged baking times, allowing bakers to optimize crust thickness and crumb texture.
According to Weber Cooling, “the last 30 to 40 percent of baking time is used to give the bread the necessary stability. With vacuum cooling, this is no longer an issue; the cooling process takes just a few minutes, and during this time, the bread gains stability.”
This functional advantage means that not only is cooling accelerated, but baking times can also be reduced, further enhancing production line throughput. Additionally, the lowered internal temperature extends shelf life by reducing the activity window for microbial contamination.
Installation Considerations
Installing a vacuum cooling system involves considerations beyond simply selecting the right equipment. Factors such as available floor space, integration with existing production lines, desired product throughput, and energy consumption must all be evaluated.
Scott McCally, President of Auto-Bake Serpentine, articulates this in practical terms: “For companies needing to incrementally increase capacity on their current line but locked in by your current footprint, vacuum cooling can be the step level increase that you need. Every percentage in bake time that we can reduce is the capacity increase that you can expect.”
Vacuum systems also represent a significant capital investment. As McCally adds, “Yes, vacuum cooling is a sizeable investment, $300k to >$1.0M, but when compared to building a new line or new factory to increase capacity adding it to your current line(s) begins to make financial sense.”
Ensuring the correct sizing of the system – one, two, or three rack capacity units – and understanding the maintenance requirements are critical for maximizing return on investment. Energy usage metrics are another key element, as savings here can often justify the initial outlay over a few years.
Solutions from Leading Manufacturers
Several equipment manufacturers have developed innovative vacuum cooling systems, each offering distinct advantages tailored to specific bakery needs.
MULTIVAC Cooling@Packing
MULTIVAC has introduced an award-winning innovation that directly integrates vacuum cooling into the packaging process. The Cooling@Packing system is a vacuum application installed in a thermoforming packaging machine, enabling baked goods to be cooled and packed in a continuous, hygienic flow.
“It is a great honor for us to receive this award for our product innovation Cooling@Packing. A big thank you goes to the entire team for the great cooperation,” said Dr Tobias Richter, Group President (CSO) of the MULTIVAC Group, upon winning the German Packaging Award.
This system allows bakery products such as baguettes, breads, and cookies to be transferred directly from the oven to the packaging line. As MULTIVAC explains, “The bakery products are cooled down within a few seconds from 95°C to approx. 30°C in the packaging machine, using an evacuation process in the chambers. The cooling effect is produced by the vaporization energy, which is released by the evaporation of the bakery product’s own moisture during the evacuation process.”
Key benefits include reduced contamination risks, minimized energy consumption, smaller production footprints, and increased throughput. By avoiding traditional ambient cooling methods, MULTIVAC helps bakeries achieve higher production efficiency and better product quality, aligning with the industry’s sustainability targets.