Fermentation rooms may come equipped with degassing bars providing complete containment of the dough within each trough.
 
Keeping it well-rested

Many artisan and specialty bread and roll bakers prefer spiral mixers, which provide a European style of kneading — often along with long rest times before makeup. In some cases, automated systems provide space-savings as well.

Koenig Bakery Systems offers a bowl-and-hoist option or box dough transfer with a lifting unit for ciabatta and other open-cell doughs that require extended fermentation times in ambient or temperature-controlled rooms. “A general guideline is that the more difficult the dough is, the more labor is needed,” said Rich Breeswine, CEO of Koenig Bakery Systems. “A large pore structure needs more attention and more labor.”


Gostol uses a circular design for mixing and dough handling, according to Tanja Coha, marketing coordinator.
The mixers are located in the center with the sponge or dough bowls placed on shelves, up to four levels, along the circumference of the operation. A robot device stacks, picks and places bowls according to preselected time- and temperature-controlled fermentation needs.

“When the planned fermentation of dough in a specific bowl is ended, the bowl is taken from the shelf and moved to a transport route that discharges the dough from the bowl into the hopper or other machine next in line,” Ms. Coha said. She added that the system can reduce floor space requirements up to 45% compared with conventional bowl handling.

Modular construction allows bakers to expand their systems over time while maintaining control of the process.

“Depending on the technical requirements, needed hour capacity and available space, they can be assembled almost optionally,” Ms. Coha said. “They can occupy a specific part of a circle, three-quarters of a circle or a whole circle. They can be arranged in one, two, three or four decks. They can be built, for example, with three columns and four decks, two columns with three decks or in other configurations. The main advantage of such a system is easier control of batches. You always know exactly how much time has passed since a specific batch of dough was mixed.”

Many companies like Koenig use laser or other types of sensors to monitor dough filling levels and provide automatic refilling of hoppers. These electronic eyes can be used to monitor scrap trimmed during sheeting that’s being returned to the hopper for remixing and recycling in future doughs, a method often used to provide additional flavor and elasticity.

“Sensors are applied on the most important positions, such as conveyor belts, to avoid stops or gaps in dough feeding,” Mr. Breeswine said. “The homogeneous filling level also ensures high weight accuracy.”

To ensure quality and minimize waste, another option is to mix dough in relatively small separate batches for doughs needing extensive fermen-
tation times.

“This might seem inefficient at first, but it makes sense to reduce the weight pressure on the dough in the mixing bowl,” Mr. Breeswine observed. “Ciabatta and baguette doughs are sensitive, and if there is less weight in a bowl, the dough structure and pores are better in the finished products.”

For many dividers, sheeters and makeup systems, the size of the dough chunk is critical. “If it’s too large, it creates bridging or dead spots in the hopper,” said John Giacoio, national sales director, Rheon USA. The company provides custom conveyor systems to ensure the hopper is properly filled for its stress-free makeup lines.

When chunking, Rheon requires a piece of dough tailored to the dimension of its equipment. “Our hoppers are deliberately small, but we do that for a good reason,” Mr. Giacoio observed. “We don’t want to have too much dough weight in the hopper. If we’re running artisan bread with high hydration and long fermentation, we don’t want to degas the dough by throwing 500 lb of it into the hopper.”

For some, continuous mixing combined with innovative dough handling may offer yet another alternative, suggested Vince Pasquini, pretzel and snack technical sales engineer, Reading Bakery Systems. “We have come a long way from the days of batch mixing and trough systems to a variety of options and processes to save time and labor and to produce a much more consistent dough than had been possible in years past,” he said.

In conjunction with its continuous mixer, Reading developed a conveyorized system that provides fermentation and/or proofing time for doughs prior to makeup.

“Traditionally, proofing or fermentation was done in large troughs that would take the dough from the mixer and move it onto large, environmentally controlled proofing rooms for the time required for that formula,” Mr. Pasquini said.

“This required considerable man-hours for handling and managing the troughs to ensure the proper batch was introduced into the system.”

Instead, Reading developed the continuous proofing laytime conveyor. It receives dough from the mixer and provides the required rest time while moving the dough to downstream equipment. It does away with use of individual troughs and all the associated operations and sanitation labor. The results are consistent proofing times and improved process control.

Mr. Pasquini described other options such as a kibbler-style head for short doughs typical of rotary-moulded products or a sheeting head that would produce a continuous dough sheet for downstream processing.

Many bakers tailor the size of their hoppers to maximize throughput, according to Cesar Zelaya, sales and technology, Handtmann. The company’s dividers include those with a built-in hoist to transfer a dough batch from the mixer. Hoppers range in sizes to accommodate a variety of production demands.

“Depending on the type of transfer pump or means used to convey the dough from the mixer to the processing area, more gluten development and early fermentation can be experienced,” Mr. Zelaya said. “We recommend that bakers not overlook these factors when designing a new production line to deliver dough under ideal conditions for the dividing and makeup process.”

To provide proper feeding to its multi-sized dividers and other systems, Reiser partners with Food Machinery Equipment, a provider of rotary dough chunkers.

“The dough chunkers fit well with our philosophy of having the least impact on the dough as one can,” Mr. McIsaac said. “Dough chunkers receive the mixer output, portion it into large slabs and deliver it to the divider. Our chunkers are sized to the mixer and custom-engineered to feed the divider or dividers with a minimal amount of work on the dough.”

When it comes to dough handling, it’s not only about connecting points A to B; it’s about making sure everything provides the proper function in between.

“No matter whose divider you use, it should always rely on consistent dough feeding to achieve consistent weight accuracy,” Mr. Burke advised. “Not only is portioning important from a merchandising perspective, in the sense that the product sizing is recognizable and standardized, but it is also important in establishing and maintaining profit margins.”