One baker’s waste is another’s treasure. In the baking industry, that’s how the saying goes when it comes to scrap.

“In our view, there’s a big difference between trim and waste,” said David Moline, vice president of sales and marketing, Moline Machinery. “Trim or scrap is not waste. It’s an ingredient in almost every formula. Granted, some formulas minimize trim better. In other formulas, we run more than 50% trim. The only reason you have waste is when you have excess trim that can’t be reincorporated into the dough.”

Commonly referred to as rework dough, scrap is a byproduct of sheeting lines, noted Nick Magistrelli, vice president of sales, Rademaker USA.

“In most cases, this rework dough becomes part of the formula, positively impacting the product,” he said. “There have been many advancements in regard to rework handling, for example specialized weigh solutions to guarantee accurate volume and delivery back to the beginning of the line or the mixer area.”

While scrap can be reduced, sometimes it cannot be fully eliminated, suggested John McIsaac, vice president, strategic business development for Reiser.

“We have been able to use Vemag dough portioners to meter the product back to the mixer in either a continuous format, or in weight-controlled batches,” he said.

Although a certain amount of rework has become a part of some formulas, it often depends on the dough rheology. Coen Nikkels, manager of marketing and business development, Rondo Industrial Solutions, pointed out that trim from laminated dough contains fat and will influence the fat-percentage in the end product when it’s used as re-work. That addition to the mix needs to be taken into the final fat-percentage calculation. Normally, scrap dough that contains filling or seeding cannot be reused.

Overall, Mr. Nikkels added, irregular dough bands generate more scrap.

“A well-controlled dough band width minimizes scrap,” Mr. Nikkels said. “Rondo’s extruders and dough band formers are designed to form stabile dough bands.”

Scrap also comes from the shape of the product.

“Stamping and cutting patterns very much determine the amount of scrap,” Mr. Nikkels said. “A well-designed pattern allows for minimum rework. Rondo puts much effort in checking the design of cutting rollers and stamping dies to meet the demanded scrap requirement and, at the same time, allow the smooth pickup of the rework web.”

Hans Besems, executive product manager for AMF Tromp, an AMF Bakery Systems brand, pointed out that circular products will have about 35% of scrap, which often can be reused in the dough, depending on the product.

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