Today’s bun and roll equipment has been designed to create quality finished products. Equipment is engineered to ensure the product isn’t damaged because a line is moving too quickly.

“Quality should never interfere with maximizing throughput,” said Richard Breeswine, president and chief executive officer, Koenig Bakery Systems. “For Koenig, it is important how a customer defines quality … For every bakery, it might mean something else.”

Knowing what a baker means when he or she says “quality”— even shape, weight accuracy, gentle dough handling — helps Koenig Bakery Systems custom-build machines and set the parameters to meet those needs.

Dividing and moulding may be the most fraught moment for a dough piece. It is critical that it isn’t overworked as it is divided and moulded into individual pieces. This section of an operation also has an impact on the speed of the line.

“Generally speaking, it is up to the dough divider and rounder to achieve high throughput,” Mr. Breeswine said. “The core of a production line is always the dough dividing and rounding. It defines the speed and throughput of the machine.”

Koenig’s Industrie Compact AW and Industrie Rex AW both balance high weight accuracy and flexibility with peak speeds. They are continuously adjustable — which enables fast production — and feature even piston pressure for high accuracy across dough types. The company’s T-REX AW divides and rounds dough at up to 72,000 pieces per hour in 12 rows. It can offer a weight range of 0.99 to 2.46 oz and process a wide variety of doughs, including those with inclusions.

“After dividing the dough pieces with a rotating dividing drum, the dough pieces are then turned 180-degrees in a counter-clockwise direction and transferred to a spreading finger belt,” Mr. Breeswine explained. “This step allows the dough to rest before the rounding process is started.”

After resting, the dough is conveyed through the sloped rounding ledges. These specially designed ledges are what enable Koenig Bakery Systems to shape a wide variety of doughs at high speeds without losing quality.

When it comes to soft, delicate or sticky doughs, Sottoriva America’s series of Athena, Dinamica or Lyra divider/rounder machines were designed to handle those products.

“Being able to run the baker’s original product formulation without deviation is an important factor when selecting a bun divider/rounder,” said Rich Wall, president of Sottoriva America.

This article is an excerpt from the August 2020 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on bun and roll tech, click here.