Ask Old World bakers what makes a bread artisan, and many will say the key is in the long fermentation times of the dough.

“The biggest thing for us is fermentation,” said Anthony Ambeliotis, co-owner of Pittsburgh-based Mediterra Bakehouse in an episode of Baking & Snack’s podcast Since Sliced Bread.

“You can automate and do things to ease production or help yourself scale, but don’t compromise on fermentation.”

Baking  exhibition learned that such extended fermentation is critical in developing the flavor and rheology that defines artisan bread. While there isn’t room to compromise this process, bakers can find labor savings by automating the storage and delivery of preferments, the mixture of dough components that ferment before being added to the mixer. These can include sourdough, levain, polish, biga and sponge.

“Automating the delivery of ingredients to the mixing process can be an excellent place to start,” explained Jason Stricker, vice president of sales and marketing, Shick Esteve. “A properly designed and installed ingredient system can provide highly accurate and repeatable operation in the bakery ensuring that the highest level of quality and consistency can be achieved.”

Shawn Hasley, director of food systems sales and services, Zeppelin Systems USA, noted the storage and use of liquid and sour ferments is prime for automation.

“The ability to store larger quantities in tanks as opposed to buckets and troughs helps with reducing the overall footprint and creates space within the production areas inside the bakery,” he explained. 

Zeppelin offers a range of equipment for preferments, including storage hoppers for precise dosing and agitator containers for dissolved or liquid yeast.

Ronald Falkenberg, regional sales director, USA and Canada, Diosna, added that the use of PLC controls allow bakers to better manage the status and consistency of their preferment. 

“With the benefits of automated Diosna sourdough and pre-dough tanks, artisan bakers can manage different steps in fermentation while heating and cooling the sourdough,” he said. “The ability to store larger quantities in tanks as opposed to buckets and troughs helps with reducing the overall footprint and creates space within the production areas inside the bakery.”

Diosna provides a range of fully automatic pre-dough systems, ranging from small, movable tanks to large pre-dough plants. Its Aroma Multiline for rye, wheat and pregelatinized pieces, for example, adjusts to various capacities, fermentation times and stirring intervals.

At the mixer, automation may similarly reduce labor needs while still preserving artisan dough integrity.

“The Mixer Guardian for AMF Fusion’s horizontal batch mixers advances AMF’s patented Dough Guardian technology by eliminating the need for skilled operator experience while ensuring unmatched dough consistency,” said Scott Walker, director of corporate engineering, AMF Bakery Systems. 

Mr. Falkenberg added that Diosna’s Wendel Mixer, with bottom discharge and automatic conveying, offers a gentle mix that maintains artisan texture and structure.

Once artisan dough is mixed, the common next step is the critical long fermentation period, which often requires labor and space that bakers may be short on.  

“It takes a number of people to get dough into bowls and move bowls around,” noted Nick Magistrelli, vice president of sales, Rademaker USA. 

Rademaker offers a conveyorized fermentation system that removes the need for this labor-intensive process. The system lets the dough ferment for two hours before entering its Dough Chunking Sheeting System (DSS), after which the chunks are inclined and loaded back-to-back on resting conveyors during dwell time.  

Bakery China will continue to share more industry professional content with you, so please stay tuned!

Bakery China, organized by China Association of Bakery and Confectionery Industry (CABCI) and Bakery China Exhibitions Co., Ltd. was launched since 1997. Bakery China is the Asia Pacific's leading event serving the entire value chain for the bakery and confectionery market. The event presents all range of ingredient, equipment, packaging and services, and enables global leading professionals and buyer delegates to meet and share the latest innovations and thinking on manufacturing & distribution, R&D, applications and related services for bakery industry.It is  the first choice trade fair to enter China's bakery market.

The 26th Bakery China will be held on May 21-24,2024 at National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), Shanghai, covering 320,000 sqm show space. Over 2,200 exhibitors and 400,000 visits are expected.
（source:  Baking Business ）