Exploring Useful Technologies To Enhance Baking Process

In today's market, the growth of product innovation to fulfill customer expectations has encouraged bakers to investigate new oven technologies—or combine and match current ones—to increase operational versatility.

FREMONT, CA: Bakery is evolving into a precision technology that enables industrial products of comparable quality to artisanal ones to be produced. Bakeries and industry can choose from whole bakery lines or ad hoc installation of individual machines at various stages of production. Industrial bread is no longer associated with substandard quality.

Modern equipment can process bread starters made with natural yeast to impart qualities such as a crunchy crust and a soft and aromatic inside to the finished product. To fulfill the demands of increasingly discerning consumers, the bread business is shifting toward more prolonged production procedures that emphasize the ingredients and the manufacturing process.

Resting and leavening times are extended, and processing is carried out at lower temperatures and with a higher proportion of water than in the past to emulate the artisanal product as closely as possible.

Regarding technological options, an increasing number of enterprises prefer comprehensive, adaptable, and customizable systems capable of producing a wide variety of bakery products, including bread, pizza, and various types of cakes.

Increasingly efficient machines enable the production of a diverse range of bakery products, thanks to modular structures that can be adapted to process a variety of recipes, including oil or milk bread, round country bread, Sfilatini bread, classic baguettes, artisanal bread for sandwiches or country baguettes, bread loaves, focaccia, ciabatta, and French bread, among others, with or without gluten. Different recipes correspond to different types of dough: those made with mother yeast, bread starter, or pre-fermented dough; those that are highly hydrated, low in salt, or made with organic materials; and those that are gluten-free.

Versatility appears to be the defining characteristic of the current bakery lines available to businesses, incorporating low-stress processing that assures stress-free dough. If there are fewer products to be manufactured or if space is not an issue, companies can opt for specialized production lines that process doughs with high water content, such as those for ciabatta bread, which has a flat and elongated shape, with a soft and alveolar internal crumb and a golden and crispy external crust.

The lines' production capacities are modular, and the number of loaves produced is proportional to their size. Similarly, there are production lines for round bread made from various types of dough: from rustic molded bread to seeded bread and round bread with a hole, such as bagels, to soft sandwiches and burgers. The line in this instance comprises a rounding machine that converts square dough chunks into rounded loaves.

Automatic bread-making machines are often capable of manufacturing a wide variety of bread kinds and processing various dough types. Additionally, due to the comprehensive customization of the lines, the systems are adaptable to any manufacturing requirement. Certain bread-making lines are based on low-stress rolling methods that accept the dough from the mixer, divide it into strips, and transport it to the cutting station via a conveyor belt, reducing it in size using a guillotine.

The broken-up dough is then delivered to a molding machine, which molds the pieces. Finally, depending on the design chosen, the line can be connected to a conveyor belt that will transport the products to the freezers or to a tray depositor that will transport the products to the ovens.

All phases of modern bakery lines are automated and programmable, allowing for recipe customization. The sanitary design maximizes sanitation.