What equipment is needed for bakery: types, features, how to choose

Baking bread is a whole technological process, for which you need special equipment. What exactly will be needed depends on the type of baking and the amount of products to be produced. Let's consider the main types of equipment for bakeries and tips for selection.

Equipment for the bakery

The main types of ovens for bakeries:

• Convection ovens are compact equipment with a wide range of functions. In them you can cook not only bread, but also bake cakes, pies. The peculiarity of the convection oven is that the hot air circulates continuously and evenly. In this way, the products are baked equally on all sides.
• Modular baking ovens are suitable for bakeries with a large volume of products. Different bakery products can be baked simultaneously in these baking ovens by placing them on separate baking trays on top of each other.
• Rotary baking ovens are characterized by the fact that the baking trays rotate around their own axis. This is necessary for the bread to bake evenly.

Other bakery equipment:

• Proofing ovens are necessary for yeast dough to rise in them. Semi-finished products are also thawed in them. The equipment is set to the right temperature and humidity.
• Refrigerators for storing food and semi-finished products.
• An industrial flour sifter is needed to sift flour before making dough. Large particles and debris are removed, and the raw materials are oxygenated and become more airy.
• Baking table for working with dough.
• Apparatus for forming the dough. On it you can quickly make pizza bases, rolls or pies of a given shape. Instead of this equipment you will need devices for manual work with dough: knives, molds, cutting boards and others.
• The dough mixer is designed for kneading large volumes of dough. A homogeneous consistency is obtained. This greatly facilitates the labor of the confectioner and speeds up the process of preparing baked goods.
• Dough dividers are equipment that helps to divide the dough into equal pieces. It is difficult to do this manually.
• Dough rolling machines make it possible to make layers of dough of uniform thickness.
• A bread slicer is needed to slice the finished product.
• A packaging machine that packages finished products.
• Racks for storing finished baked goods or semi-finished products.

How to choose equipment for a bakery

Pay attention to such factors:

• What products are to be baked. It will be necessary to make bread and bakery products from scratch or work with semi-finished products. Will the bakery be making cakes? Depending on this, the set of necessary equipment differs.
• Determine what of the available equipment will be used in the bakery. Refrigerator, oven, cabinet for proving dough, table for cutting bread and racks for storing products - this is the necessary minimum.
• Calculate the budget. It is desirable not to buy too cheap equipment, because unreliable equipment quickly breaks down. If any unit fails, most likely, the entire production will stop. For a small bakery, a good option will be universal devices that combine several functions.

It is important to study in detail the features of each type of equipment. This will help to determine the choice of a suitable model. Also read reviews on the Internet about the equipment for the bakery.