Today’s ovens can be tailored to provide the exact baking specifications to get the optimal finished products.
All of these elements lead to one objective: achieving the correct baking profile. “Many factors contribute to an oven’s baking efficiency including burners and airflow, but, most importantly, there must be balance between these aspects and the profile needed to create high-quality products,” said Andrew Knox, sales and test center manager, Franz Haas Machinery of America. “Once such a balance is achieved, the oven is able to utilize the baking energy when and where it is needed without creating excess waste.”
Today’s ovens can be tailored to provide the exact baking specifications to get the optimal finished products. The baking profile can be tested and tweaked before purchasing a new oven. That’s one of the benefits of a test or innovation center, and one of the ways Reading Bakery Systems uses its Science and Innovation Center. “Our goal is to optimize the product and allow for maximum flexibility in the ovens for the future,” Mr. Moye said. “By determining the most efficient baking patterns, we can ensure that just the right amount of energy is being used to bake products and avoid wasteful heating methods.”
Once the proper baking profile has been established, bakers can replicate and maintain it with precision through today’s computer controls. “It does not matter how well specified the oven is if it is not set up correctly,” said Brett Cutler, applications sales engineer, Baker Perkins. “It may be baking satisfactorily, just not efficiently.” Baker Perkins offers recipe-driven set-up systems to ensure that the optimal settings are always used.
Software can bring an immense amount of control to the baking process. Precise controls and instruments allow bakers to determine and reproduce the exact look, texture, and quality of baking that they desire, Mr. Renaud said of ABI’s ovens.
Haas-Meincke uses data loggers to track humidity, pressures and temperatures. “With this information, we are able to adjust our oven settings for our customers, enabling them to produce their products knowing the bake cycle has been optimized specifically for them,” Mr. Knox said.
AMF Connect links the oven and proofer to makeup equipment rates and run times so that any changes in production can be adjusted. The system also features tracking that shows operators which zones have product in them so burners can be lowered in zones without product. The company’s Total Zone Control enables proper heat application in each zone, which is then recorded and verified by its Scorpion Data Logger.
Reading also uses downtime detection software to determine when product isn’t in the oven and monitors energy use with fuel flow meters. In this way, both the baking profile and energy usage are optimized.
A well-crafted and insulated chamber, proper burners, just the right amount of air movement and steam all can contribute to just the right bake. And with today’s software, operators can program the oven to do it again and again, and provide changeovers to a completely different product with minimal hassle and precise results. With so many tools at the ready, bakers can achieve the most efficient baking profile for their products.
Find resources for ovens by visitingwww.esourcebaking.com. Browse by category under Equipment, and click on Proof/Bake/Fry for listings.
