Starting a new commercial bakery or expanding an existing one may sound like a daunting task. You would want to buy the right equipment and get the most of your money’s worth. If you have no idea where to start, here is a list of some of the most common commercial bakery equipment you may need.
Commercial mixers
There are plenty of sizes for these mixers. There are small 5-qt models you can put on countertops. 100-qt floor units are also available. You can find several large floor units in mid- to large-sized bakeries. They also have a countertop unit for mixing up small batches of icing or fillings with ease.
Dough dividers and sheeters
Dough dividers take a large batch of dough and part it into equal-sized and -weighted balls of dough. It provides consistent results when making pies, loaves of bread, and pizza crusts. Dough sheeters take a ball of the dough made. The sheeters roll and stretch it out and adjust to your preferred size and thickness. It improves the consistency in your pie and dough crusts.
Holding or proofing
Proofing bread dough means you let it rise before baking. Dough rises best in warm and humid surroundings, so you will need to invest in some proofing cabinets. These equipment helps you achieve the perfect temperature and humidity levels. Holding or proofing has a lot of variations and styles to choose from.
Retarder/proofer
You can refrigerate the dough if you want to slow it down from rising. There are several types of dough. Some only turn out best when you let them rest at higher temperatures. Even higher than those of a commercial refrigerator. A retarder will be helpful in this case. Combination units are versatile retarders. These can switch over to proofing the dough once you are ready to do so. These combos can help you save a lot of time. You can put the dough in them overnight, and then set the program of the machine so it starts proofing at a certain time. It will then be ready for baking. There are some specialized models that combine convection oven capabilities with combination units.
Revolving ovens
This equipment is like a rotisserie-style oven you often see at a deli or in the market. The large revolving trays of this oven can hold different products. Although quite expensive, these have a very high capacity and output capability.
There are so many equipment you might need and those mentioned above are only some of them.
