The beauty of bread.

Not only does that magic aroma instantly warm up your home, it whets your appetite and soothes the senses. And you don’t have to roll up your sleeves and get elbow-deep in sticky dough to enjoy it.

The staff of life
Going back as far as the Middle Ages, bread has always been a cornerstone of health and sustenance. Fine loaves made of pure wheaten flour were much coveted and enjoyed only by the prosperous. Even the words “Lord” and “Lady” have their roots in bread, coming from the Anglo-Saxon hlaford which means loaf-keeper and hlaibadigon which means bread-kneader.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to experiment with raised breads – probably as a result of wheat dough becoming accidentally contaminated with airborne yeasts, causing it to expand and rise. Nowadays we are spoilt for choice – from pastries and soft, light bread rolls to wholegrain breads.

Keeping pace with changing lifestyles
Pre-baked and packaged breads are growing in popularity as more and more people seek to combine the demands of a busy lifestyle with the simple pleasures of home baking.

The biggest challenges with breads that are not intended for immediate consumption is maintaining the quality and freshness, of the bread, while at the same time preserving the flavour and texture. Gases can play a vital role in helping bakeries solve these problems.

Liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide, for example, are used to freeze and cool bakery products during and after processing. By speeding up the cooling process, cryogenic gases help to preserve delicate flavours, reduce water loss and enhance overall quality. They also have the added benefit of inhibiting bacterial growth to extend shelf life without compromising on quality and freshness.

Gases are also used for packaging. Bakery products are subject to chemical breakdown and mould growth. Fermentation may also cause problems in pastries or breads that have been filled.

Since mould is an aerobic microorganism, it can be effectively controlled by packaging the produce in a modified atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, thus minimising the oxygen content. Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP, extends shelf-life, preserves quality and improves overall cost-effectiveness. MAP is especially suited to breads, pastries and pies.

Through its MAPAX^® offering, Linde delivers a range of customised solutions that enable its customers to meet their MAP challenges. MAPAX^® bundles the vast knowledge Linde has gained in foodstuffs handling, gases and packaging for the greatest production flexibility, quality gains and cost efficiencies.



Freshly baked baguettes rest before being packed for dispatch.

Pure passion
Bakkersland Group BV is the largest bakery in Holland. Famous for its pre-baked “pain de boulogne”, Bakkersland combines its love of the baking trade with a keen ability to anticipate the convenience demands of a busy lifestyle. It supplies companies such as Albert Heijn, largest supermarket chain in Holland, and is renowned for its focus on quality.

To strengthen its position as domestic market leader and gain international recognition, Bakkersland continues to invest in people, products and innovative production processes. A recent example of this was the new bakery for the home bake-off market, which is one of the most modern in Europe. Here Bakkersland uses nitrogen and carbon dioxide from Linde Gas to keep its foil-packaged off-the-shelf produce fresh for a full twelve weeks.

It also uses carbon dioxide from Linde Gas to cryogenically chill the pre-baked bread for its “cool fresh” line. This helps to preserve the flavour of “cool fresh” products, while inhibiting bacteria and extending the shelf-life of pre-baked “cool fresh” products from four to ten days.

As Adrie de Schipper, Plant Manager at Bakkersland explains, “At Bakkersland, we want everyone to be able to enjoy our meticulously prepared bakery goods, which calls for the highest levels of quality across the entire supply chain. Through its application know-how and experience, Linde has provided us with high-quality solutions that extend the shelf-life of our products and allow more people to enjoy Bakkersland breads and pastries.”

Taking the lead in Poland
The Polish company Anita is also familiar with the benefits of cryogenic freezing for its ready-to-serve foods such as dumplings and pies.

A family-run enterprise, Anita successfully competes with the larger players on the Polish market thanks to its focus on quality and its production flexibility.

To meet the growing demands of the large Polish supermarkets it supplies, Anita installed spiral and tunnel cryogenic freezers from Linde. “By continually investing in the latest technologies through our partnership with Linde Gas, we have gained a quality, productivity and flexibility advantage that translates into a clear competitive lead,” says Mr. Grzegorz Mordalski, owner of the company. “Our customers can look forward to higher quality ready-to-serve foods and pies.”

As more and more people reach for ready-made breads, pastries and pies such as these, we can expect to see an increase in demand for pre-baked and packaged produce.

Increasingly, attention is focusing on innovative gas-enabled processing and packaging solutions that cater to your every whim – whether you’re looking for a fresh cheese roll to accompany a late-night movie or a warm croissant to greet you as you roll out of bed late on a Sunday morning.


Inert gas packaging helps keep pre-baked baguettes fresher for longer.