The highly demanding conditions of industrial processes may lower the stability and affect the activity of enzymes used as biocatalysts. Enzyme immobilization emerged as an approach to promote stabilization and easy removal of enzymes for their reusability. The aim of this review is to go through the principal immobilization strategies addressed to achieve optimal industrial processes with special care on those reported for two types of enzymes: β-galactosidases and fructosyltransferases. The main methods used to immobilize these two enzymes are adsorption, entrapment, covalent coupling and cross-linking or aggregation (no support is used), all of them having pros and cons. Regarding the support, it should be cost-effective, assure the reusability and an easy recovery of the enzyme, increasing its stability and durability. The discussion provided showed that the type of enzyme, its origin, its purity, together with the type of immobilization method and the support will affect the performance during the enzymatic synthesis. Enzymes’ immobilization involves interdisciplinary knowledge including enzymology, nanotechnology, molecular dynamics, cellular physiology and process design. The increasing availability of facilities has opened a variety of possibilities to define strategies to optimize the activity and re-usability of β-galactosidases and fructosyltransferases, but there is still great place for innovative developments.

The impact of the baking temperature on the moisture profile (in terms of water content), during bread baking was analyzed using a convection oven (three oven temperatures and different baking times). During baking, local water content and temperature were measured at different regions of the crust and crumb. There was found an increase in water content at the core. Water content reached a maximum level (at about 2.5%), with no effect of the baking temperature, and decreased slowly at advanced baking times. Regarding the crust, a theoretical model relating water flux to the driven force (temperature difference between the oven environment and the vaporization front) and the crust thermal resistance was validated with experimental values. Water losses were also reported. The water lost by bread contributes significantly to the energy consumption by this process and its reduction is of concern for conducting the process in a more sustainable manner. A better optimization of heat transfer between the surface (for coloration purposes) and the core (for inflation purposes) could help in this way, together with shorter baking duration and hence higher yield.