GATE — Engineering Sciences (XE), Section G Food Technology · India · IITs and IISc on rotation (2026: IIT Guwahati)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe science of bread, biscuits, cakes, pasta and snacks: ingredient functions, dough development, fermentation, baking, staling, and frying of snacks, with the defects and their causes.
In the exams: GATE XE-G Section 3 (bread, biscuits, extruded products, potato chips); ICAR AIEEA-PG Code 18 Unit III (cereals and bakery products)
GATE — Engineering Sciences (XE), Section G Food Technology
Section 3 names bread, biscuits, extruded products and potato chips. Expect MCQs on ingredient functions, bread-making methods, oven spring and staling, biscuit dough types, extrusion and chip processing, and NATs on baker's percentages, baking loss, specific volume, dough water temperature and oil content.
GATE — Life Sciences (XL), Section U Food Technology
Same Section 3 content, often framed through chemistry: gluten, starch gelatinisation and retrogradation, Maillard reactions, leavening acids.
How our questions for GATE spread across the units of Bakery, Pasta & Snack Food Technology. Difficulty: 13 easy, 6 medium, 3 hard.
| Functions of bakery ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, fat and improvers | 3 | |
| Bread-making processes: straight dough, sponge-and-dough and continuous | 2 | |
| Dough development and fermentation | 2 | |
| Baking: heat transfer and physicochemical changes | 2 | |
| Staling and its control | 2 | |
| Biscuits, cookies and crackers | 2 | |
| Cakes and batters | 2 | |
| Pasta and noodle technology | 2 | |
| Snack foods: chips, extruded and fried snacks | 2 | |
| Deep-fat frying: heat and mass transfer and oil uptake | 2 | |
| Bakery equipment and quality control | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In the sponge-and-dough method, the sponge consists of:
A. Part of the flour, water and yeast, pre-fermented
The sponge is fermented, then mixed with the remaining ingredients.
Further reading: Cauvain and Young, Technology of Breadmaking
The Chorleywood Bread Process, developed in the UK in 1961, replaces bulk fermentation by:
C. Intense mechanical mixing
High-speed mixing (about 11 Wh/kg) with an oxidant develops the dough.
Further reading: Cauvain and Young, Technology of Breadmaking
A desired dough temperature is 26 °C, flour is at 30 °C, the room at 32 °C and friction 12 °C. What water temperature is needed by the three-factor rule?
A. 4 °C
3 × 26 − (30 + 32 + 12) = 78 − 74 = 4 °C, showing why chilled water is needed in hot climates.
Further reading: Pyler and Gorton, Baking Science and Technology
The main cause of crumb firming in bread staling is:
D. Retrogradation of amylopectin
Bread stales even in moisture-proof packs.
Further reading: Cauvain and Young, Baked Products; Delcour and Hoseney
At which storage temperature does bread stale fastest?
A. About 0–5 °C
Refrigeration accelerates retrogradation; freezing almost stops it.
Further reading: Cauvain and Young, Baked Products; Delcour and Hoseney
Rotary moulding is used mainly for which biscuit doughs?
C. Soft, short doughs
Short doughs are pressed into engraved cavities.
Further reading: Manley's Technology of Biscuits, Crackers and Cookies
Storing potatoes at low temperature before frying causes:
B. Cold-induced sweetening and dark chips
Reducing sugars accumulate; reconditioning at about 15–20 °C reduces them.
Further reading: Lusas and Rooney, Snack Foods Processing
Deep-fat frying is usually carried out at oil temperatures of about:
D. 150–190 °C
Vacuum frying uses lower temperatures.
Further reading: Lusas and Rooney, Snack Foods Processing; FSSAI frying oil guidance
Most oil is taken up by fried foods:
A. After removal, as steam condenses
Falling pressure in pores draws surface oil in.
Further reading: Lusas and Rooney, Snack Foods Processing; FSSAI frying oil guidance
A 480 g loaf has a volume of 2,400 cm³. What is its specific volume?
C. 5.0 cm³/g
2,400/480 = 5.0. 0.2 inverts the ratio.
Further reading: Cauvain and Young, Technology of Breadmaking
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