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Why does heating bread (cinnamon buns) in a microwave make it rubbery, when a regular oven doesn't? What are the chemical or structural changes?

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It is simply that the microwave heats primarily the water molecules, causing the bread to steam. A normal oven heats all of the molecules of the bread, and by the time the water is heavily steaming you will have pulled it out of the oven.

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I thought that it was also related to the way the bread is heated. In a conventional oven it is heated by conduction, allowing the water content to evaporate as heat flows in. In a MO heat transfer is too quick and uniform. – belisarius Nov 17 '10 at 0:57
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Primarily water, but also fats and sugars and other polar molecules. – endolith Nov 17 '10 at 1:18
@belisarius: I'm sure you're right about conventional ovens. I think the microwave thing isn't just about how fast it is, though--microwaves penetrate the loaf, heating water on the inside as well as the outside. So steam is generated well inside the loaf at the same time as outside, causing the effect we all know. – bikeboy389 Nov 17 '10 at 14:27
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@Bikeboy389 That was I tried to imply with the word "uniform". Anyway be careful with heating water on the inside as well as the outside. as bread is not "transparent" for microwaves (surely MW penetrate deeper than infrared). You almost sure have seen that when defrosting food too quickly and got a nasty cooked oustside with a frozen inside. – belisarius Nov 17 '10 at 14:41
BTW a nice non-scientific article on MOs in Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven – belisarius Nov 17 '10 at 14:43
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