Heat processing of a product

A method of heat processing a gas-permeable product containing vaporizable water, said method comprising the steps of:

• placing said product within an enclosed zone;
• subjecting said product while in said zone to dielectric heating sufficient to cause vaporization of some of said water therein;
• and
• during at least a portion of said heat processing, first adding gas to said zone, and thereafter gradually reducing the pressure within said zone by subtracting gas therefrom until the pressure conditions within said zone are below atmospheric.

A method of heating processing a gas-permeable product containing vaporizable water, said method comprising the steps of:

• placing said product within an enclosed zone;
• subjecting said product while in said zone to dielectric heating sufficient to cause vaporization of some of said water therein;
• during at least a portion of said heat processing, increasing the pressure within the enclosure sufficiently to prevent significant disruption of the product by virtue of rapid migration of vaporized water therefrom;
• and
• monitoring the build-up of pressure within said product by virtue of vaporization of water therein, and correspondingly adjusting the pressure conditions within said zone.

A method of bread production comprising the steps of:

• placing a bread dough within an closed pressurizable zone;
• subjecting the dough while in said zone to dielectric heating sufficient to initiate baking of the dough and vaporization of internal water within the dough;
• subjecting the dough while in said zone to radiant heating for creating a crust thereon;
• adding steam to the zone in order to increase the gas pressure therein to level sufficient to prevent rapid migration of vaporized water therefrom to thereby prevent significant disruption of the dough;
• terminating the application of dielectric heating of the dough when the latter has been baked to a desired degree;
• and
• gradually reducing the pressure within said zone without casing significant disruption of the baked dough to a level below atmospheric pressure in order to rapidly cool the baked dough.