As bakers embrace gluten-free as a necessary segment in the industry, they face a quandary in finding equipment that can automate production of these tricky doughs. Because gluten-free dough acts more like batter than dough, equipment suppliers must match the mixer to the product’s unique needs.

“Most customers in the gluten-free sector don’t know what they need,” said Damian Morabito, president, Topos Mondial. “All they know is, they’re mixing in a small mixer right now, and suddenly, they can’t keep up as the business grows.”

While the company’s three-roller-bar mixer develops the gluten necessary for bread dough, Mr. Morabito has found that the single-sigma mixers work better for mixing gluten-free bread dough and other batter-like products. These mixers simply blend ingredients together to make a homogenous dough as desired.

Rapidojet, a mixing and hydration technology distributed in the United States by Bakery Concepts, also has seen success in continuous mixing of gluten-free bread.