Evolution towards refinement
Throughout history, like many other manufacturing technologies, bread production has evolved. And in this case, part of the basic processes were preserved, but they were carried out with the most diverse means, specific to each historical era of development. Thus, grinding the wheat, kneading the dough, leavening and baking it were and remain the essential stages in the production of bread.
Continuously experimenting, gaining more and more knowledge and accumulating experience, the "guitars" or "pitaris" of yesteryear found more and more specialized and ingenious methods in the bread-making process. They have kept pace, throughout the various historical stages, with technical and technological research and development, being increasingly supported in their work by the results of new discoveries and technical revolutions. Thus, numerous devices, devices and machines were implemented in bakeries, yeasts and then cultured yeasts, premixes and additives made their way into recipes, and today's bakers can now respond to the growing demands of the customers they serve .
Throughout the entire evolution of man and society in general, bread moved further and further away from the status of a subsistence food. It has remained a basic food product, being subjected to a continuous refining process.
Predisposition
Bread, a product with such a long tradition, could not be radically changed, but many of its production stages were improved, helping to obtain a higher quality. Bakers have noticed, for example, that after portioning the pieces of dough, a period of rest / rest is needed before processing them, so that the final modeling is more stable and the product registers a more significant increase in volume. Until information about gluten networks and other scientific explanations about the effects of mechanical processing on dough appeared, bakers understood the role of that rest and respected it. In the beginning, the rest of the pieces of dough was done on the work table, but it was only a matter of time until a dedicated equipment was invented, capable of controlling this process automatically and thus easing the work of man.
Thus, in the era of technological progress, the ingenuity of some engineers led to the appearance of the bread maker, a seemingly trivial piece of equipment, which, however, has an important role in the final appearance of the bread.
The place of the bread maker in the modern bakery
Enjoying more and more easy access to scientific explanations of all the processes that take place in the production of bread, bakers immediately understood the benefits of using the forerunner.
In the flow of a modern bakery, the riser is positioned between the divider and the shaper, it being responsible for the intermediate rest or intermediate fermentation, a process also called dough riser. The pre-steaming stage becomes mandatory due to the mechanical actions exerted during the dividing and pre-shaping operations, when internal tensions arise in the dough and some links of the structural skeleton of the gluten are partially destroyed. During the pre-steaming, the tensions that I referred to previously are resorbed and allow the partial restoration of the gluten structure of the dough.
Returning to pre-hosts, today they are of two types: static and dynamic. The static ones are characterized by the fact that the piece of dough does not change its position, from the moment it enters the pre-hospital until it leaves it.
In the dynamic model, the piece of dough is turned over several times, depending on the model of the predinner and the time spent inside it. The choice of one of the two types of pre-cooker is the decision of the baker who, depending on his experience and working method, can determine what suits him best.
Regarding the pre-soaking time, specialized works recommend an interval of 8-12 minutes, but these numbers are only indicative. In practice, there are many situations in which this time is much shorter, even going down to two minutes. This variation is explained by the fact that the doughs contain different flours, with different hydration capacities. For example, in the case of doughs made from a mixture of wheat and rye flour, in which the proportion of the former is below 70%, both pre-baking and pre-shaping are no longer necessary. Also, the duration of pre-steaming is also influenced by the strength of the mechanical aggression exerted during division, the time to restore the structure of the dough being directly proportional to the force exerted by the division equipment.
The construction method of the pre-heater is very ingenious. Practically, it does not have a time adjustment for keeping the pieces of dough inside, but synchronizes with the speed of the divider, working in tandem with it. Consequently, the formula for calculating the capacity of the preheater is as follows:
Synchronizing the prestoker with the divider brings a double benefit. On the one hand, it does not require any operator, and on the other hand, it ensures a continuous flow, imposing a certain cadence of work. To all this is added the fact that the pieces of dough passed through the pre-cooker, subjected to an equal rest time, will later be shaped more easily and uniformly.
It should be mentioned that the pre-heaters are equipped with UV lamps, with a mold-inhibiting effect, and the top models have the possibility to control the internal microclimate (temperature and humidity).
Considering the advantages described above, it is obvious the gain of bakeries that use the pre-baker and thus show that it is not only the quantity produced that matters, but also the quality and appearance of the products they send to consumers.
Article written by Marius Costea - Sales Director of equipment and industrial lines Nova Pan
Read on the website Arta Albă and The most famous breads in the world
