Investing in the right bakery equipment should be a top priority if you run a commercial bakery. Commercial bakery equipment is designed for high-speed production without sacrificing quality or producing irregular results. However, certain pieces of equipment are better than others, especially regarding precision dough handling.
In this post, we’ll explore the importance of precision dough handling, especially in high-speed production. We will also review a comprehensive list of bakery and pastry equipment, covering all of the equipment options you need for an efficient bakery production line.
Commercial Bakery Equipment: The Importance of Dough Handling
Owning a commercial bakery can come with a unique set of challenges, especially when it comes to dough handling. This is one of the most important steps in the process of creating baked goods, as it can negatively or positively impact every other step in production.
Dough can be quite finicky, which makes it essential to use the right equipment to handle it effectively. Here are some common issues that can arise if you don’t invest in the right dough handling equipment:
- Overmixing: When the dough is overmixed, it can create serious issues in terms of quality and baking. Overmixed dough will not rise correctly and may not even rise at all, dramatically affecting the texture and appearance of the product.
- Ingredient Waste: If the dough is not handled correctly, it often results in ingredient waste. For example, if the dough is overmixed, you may have to throw out the entire batch. Or, if it doesn’t rise or rises unevenly, all of your baked goods may need to be thrown out and started from scratch.
- Irregular Results: If your manufacturing equipment isn’t handling the dough correctly, it will create inconsistent results with your baked goods. Some batches may not rise enough, the texture may be tough, or the flavor may be different. These are all things that will negatively impact the consumer’s experience.
- Cross-Contamination: Contaminated dough is another serious concern if your dough handling equipment isn’t working effectively. Especially when it comes to things like gluten-free dough, you need to ensure there is no cross-contamination with other food products.
Bakery and Pastry Equipment List
Now that you know why precision dough handling is so important with baking equipment, what equipment should you invest in? This is an important question to ask, as any type of food processing equipment is a significant investment. You need to make sure you understand your production needs and future goals so that you invest in equipment that can grow with you.
Here is a bakery and pastry equipment list that goes over the most common types of equipment commercial bakers should invest in.
Dry/Granular Ingredient Applicators
Automated dry/granular ingredient applicators are used to automatically dispense fine ingredients onto the tops of baked goods. At Quantum, our dry/granular ingredient applicators can handle seeds, spices, parmesan cheese, granules, and salt.
Cheese/Topping Applicators
Similar to dry/granular ingredient applicators, cheese/topping applicators automatically dispense toppings in a consistent way. These applicators can dispense ingredients like shredded cheese, vegetables, IFQ ingredients, and dry ingredients.
In addition to creating consistent results, cheese/topping applicators also help to reduce ingredient waste by dispensing the same amount of ingredients for each baked good.
Circle Placers
Another important piece of equipment for commercial bakeries is circle placers. This is the equipment that automates the placement of corrugated cardboard onto the conveyor belt. Automating this process ensures precise dough handling and keeps the toppings properly aligned.
At Quantum, we provide two different circle placer models that can handle round, square, or rectangular corrugated cardboard.
Conveyor Systems
An important part of commercial dough handling is having the right conveyor system. The conveyor is what will transport the baked goods throughout the production line, ensuring it isn’t overhandled.
At Quantum, we provide many different types of conveyor systems depending on your needs. Our customizable conveyors allow you to adjust the width and length to fit your manufacturing dimensions. Many of our conveying systems also feature a cantilevered design, which allows them to be easily adapted to your existing conveyor system.
Finding the Right Bakery Equipment Supplier
In addition to finding the right processing equipment, you also need to find the right bakery equipment supplier. After all, it will be much easier to buy all of your equipment from the same supplier so that you don’t have to go shopping around. It will also be easier to configure a production system from a single equipment supplier, as all of the equipment will be compatible.
Here are some things to consider when looking at equipment supplier options:
- Automated Technology: One of the most important things to look for in a bakery equipment supplier is whether or not they provide automated technology. For high-speed production, it is absolutely essential that your equipment be able to automate repetitive tasks.
- Equipment Compatibility: In addition to automation, food processing equipment also needs to be highly compatible. Compatibility ensures your system can grow with you and that you can make upgrades as needed without encountering any issues.
- Special Features: Depending on your specific manufacturing needs, you may also want to look into special features the equipment provides. For instance, at Quantum, we provide a variety of conveyor systems that have additional features, such as water spraying abilities, ingredient compression, and reclaim abilities. Also, other equipment, like our topping applicators, uses waterfall and recirculation technology to reduce ingredient waste.
- Additional Services: It can be beneficial to buy from an equipment supplier that provides supplemental services. At Quantum, in addition to automated equipment, we provide training for your equipment operators and equipment servicing.
Invest in High-Quality Bakery Equipment at Quantum
Are you looking for the best bakery equipment supplier? At Quantum, we provide commercial bakery equipment that can help you increase production while maintaining a high standard of quality and reproducibility. We also provide additional services, such as maintenance and training for your equipment operators. Contact us today to learn more about our equipment options and how they can be customized.