Abstract: A continuous process and apparatus for making bread and bread-like products using supercritical fluid extrusion are disclosed. The process is carried out in a dough mixer and extruder into which supercritical CO.sub.2 is injected to provide proofing of the product. Rising of the dough is produced by a combination of hydrodynamic expansion of air bubbles and diffusion of CO.sub.2 into said bubbles as the dough is extruded through an exit die, without the need for yeast. A filler material may be introduced into the core of the extruded product by a coextruder located within the extruder, to provide a continuous process for producing a coextruded filled product consisting of a fully cooked cereal-based outer core filled with a pumpable filling injected into the hollow center of the product. Also, controlled acid hydrolysis of the starches in the dough may be used to produce reducing sugars that add desirable flavor to the final product.

Abstract: A supercritical fluid such as CO.sub.2 is injected under pressure into a fully cooked dough in an extruder. The dough is prepared and after being preconditioning with water and steam, is supplied to an extruder/cooker where it is subjected to high cooking temperatures, which may be on the order of 120.degree. C. The cooked dough is conveyed through an optional steam vent section and is cooled to a temperature of usually less than 100.degree. C. to prevent puffing of the extruded product by the conversion of water to steam. Supercritical CO.sub.2 is injected into the cooked and cooled dough, and under the pressure conditions existing in the extruder, the CO.sub.2 dissolves into the water phase of the dough. Since the conditions within the extruder are either subcritical or near-critical, various flavors, colorants, or other materials soluble in and carried by the supercritical CO.sub.2 are deposited and mixed into the dough before exiting the extruder. The dissolved CO.sub.