Bakers today are crafting an ever-expanding variety of bread products with different dough types, crumb structures and sizes, and as a result are looking for versatile equipment that can handle these growing needs. While this can be a challenge for equipment suppliers, Rademaker’s Olaf Stok says it’s what he enjoys most. 

“The very different challenges our customers face every day keep us going as a team,” he said. “There’s never a dull day at the office.”

Mr. Stok graduated from Rotterdam University in the Netherlands with a bachelor’s degree in applied physics. He joined the semiconductor industry as a process engineer, then worked his way up to product manager after studying technical business and earning a Six Sigma Black Belt certification. 

“After being in the semiconductor industry for 16 years in several different functions, I felt I needed a change of atmosphere,” he explained. “Some of my current co-workers were old colleagues and convinced me to join the Rademaker family.”

Mr. Stok joined Rademaker in 2017 as product manager for its croissant division. After the company restructured, he became product manager for its bread division. He says he enjoys the relaxed, family atmosphere the company created when it was founded more than 40 years ago in 1977. 

“Along the way the company has grown and expanded, but the vibe of the old days is still there,” he explained.

Artisan bread is trending with consumers, but Mr. Stok noted that fewer people today are becoming artisan bakers. Therefore, Rademaker is striving to embed its technological and dough expertise into its automated artisan production lines, ensuring artisan bakers can streamline production and meet demand while preserving artisan quality.

What areas of production can artisan bakers automate to save labor and boost capacity while still maintaining that Old World quality? 

Artisan bakers are constantly fine-tuning their process based on extensive experience and knowledge. If you know what you are doing, that is perfectly fine. Unfortunately, we see there is a decline in younger people opting for the artisan baker profession.

That is why automating, sometimes partially,   is so important for the quality of the bread. Automating the dough preparation and conditioning parts of the production environment are essential for optimal bread quality. With the right stone floor oven (thermal oil), bakers can ensure a high-quality artisan bread with an open crumb structure and a crispy crust.

At Rademaker we have managed to transform the traditions of the past into robust, state-of-the-art semi-industrial bakery production lines. With deep understanding of bread varieties from around the globe, we’ve harnessed our expertise to create the ultimate bread production solutions. Our lines are designed to produce a wide range of breads from firm dough, highly hydrated dough and very long pre-fermented dough types.

How can artisan bakers automate their dough handling while still ensuring their product maintains artisan texture?

Maintaining artisan texture during the automation of dough handling actually starts with the storage of the flour in either bags or silos. Silos are often placed outside in the full sun, which increases the flour temperature enormously. Investing in a flour cooler or good climate control in the raw material storage is essential. 

Because the flour temperature can fluctuate considerably during the year, a good cooling water system is also a must to control dough integrity. You can imagine if there is a lot of fluctuation in the dough temperatures after kneading that this has a major effect on the pre-fermentation, volume increases and therefore also the structure of the baked bread. The climate in the bakery itself should not be underestimated by the artisan baker. Temperature control in the entire bread baking process is a very important topic, but unfortunately it is too often underestimated.

Our bread production lines and the numerous different modules they consist of are carefully engineered to maintain dough integrity during processing from dough infeed to our dedicated modules to form multiple different end products.

Where can digital controls be added to a semi-automated artisan bakery to improve product consistency and maintain product quality?

Our advanced software control system features a fully automatic speed adjustment of the conveyor belts and enables different sections of the line to operate independently. This is valid for semi-automated lines as well as for fully automated lines. Great care is given to our user interface to optimize usability and simplify controls for operators. 

Our platform supports an inline weighing system which automatically controls units upstream and downstream to optimize weight control of the dough pieces. A recently developed smart sensor can measure dough piece characteristics and monitors process quality. All data is available on a local user interface or through a data connector available to our customers’ own data solutions.  

How do artisan bakers get the most out of updating and automating their artisan bread production? 

Our innovative and flexible production lines allow our customers to stay ahead of their customers’ future needs. Through smart modular-designed units, fast product changeovers are enabled.

They will yield maximum results in terms of product quality and return on investment. Our focus on ingredient optimization (if applicable) and waste reduction ensures maximum efficiency throughout the production process.

What is the latest equipment Rademaker offers that can help artisan bakers automate production?

Rademaker specializes in sheeting technology, which allows for the handling of a diverse range of dough types. The process starts by creating a continuous dough sheet from the short or long pre-proofed dough types. For this, Rademaker bread lines use two types of pre-sheeters: the DSS (Double-Chunking Stress-free System) and the DPS (Dynamic Pre-Sheeter). Both work in their own range of dough volume processing but are based on the same technological principles. Both units can process pre-proofed doughs up to TA185. Pre-proofed doughs are sheeted using quick reducers (multi-rollers), a cross roller and a gauging station. Depending on the required dough sheet thickness, line configurations can vary.

To form products from the carefully produced dough sheet, we have multiple different units such as guillotines, a moulding table and our recently introduced version of the boule rounder. Our guillotine can be equipped with different product-related changeover parts to produce beautiful cut products, while our versatile moulding table can produce the most beautiful artisan baguettes. The boule rounder can handle short and long pre-proofed doughs as well as rye-based doughs to create the most beautiful boules to cater to our customer requirements.