Home and Factory Baking

What is the difference?

The difference between baking done in your home kitchen and baking done in a factory is very easy to understand. Baking factories are designed to generate tons of bread in set quantities while the bread you make in your own kitchen may be just for your own family. The bread made at factories are often always going to be very similar in taste and look due to the standardized method of baking, while the bread you make at home could look different or taste different depending on what you decide to do to it. The main reason factory baking came around was due to the fact that many people now simply do not have the time to bake their own bread for consumption and would rather simply buy pre-baked bread which is just as good. In this article we will go through the process of factory baking.

Factory Baking

Step One (Batching)

The first step in factory baking is transferring the ingredients from bulk container tanks to the mixers. The bulk container tanks are instructed to blend all their ingredients before conveying.

Step Two (Mixing)

The mixing process is one of the most vital processes of the factory baking series. The factory mixer provides four different functions: it distributes and blends the ingredients evenly, mixes water and flour, and incorporates air into the mixture and also makes the dough into one big elastic mass. This is vital because the dough needs to be elastic enough to be streched out into thin sheets.

Step Three (Dividing or Portioning)

Once the mixing process is complete, the mixer is emptied and the first actual step of baking begins. The dough is sent through a machine called the divider. The divider cuts up the dough into smaller portions to make seperate pieces of bread. The dividing machine is designed to work very quickly and efficiently because the bread continues to rise as the cutting processes is being completed.

Step Four (Intermediate Proofing)

Once the divider finishes cutting up the dough, the dough pieces have irregular shapes and must be shaped to different dimensions to bake the product the factory is looking to produce. To accomplish this, the rounder bars spread small amounts of flour on the dough and then shape the dough to the shape it needs. After dividing and rounding, the dough tends to be very strechy and elastic. This can cause problems during the baking process, so bakers allow the dough to rest. This period is called an intermediate proof, and depending on the type of bread being baked, the intermediate proof time would vary.

Step Five (Sheeting)

Once the intermediate proof time is over, the dough enters the baking phase. Machines take the dough pieces and start shaping them into their basic shape. The way this is achieved is through a phase called "sheeting" which lets the bread pass through sets of rolls that flatten the dough to the set thickness. The bread is then placed into individual pans for baking and rising.

Step Six (Fermentation)

As the bread sits in pans, the yeast begins to take action. The yeast starts to use the food sources in the bread mixture to ferment. This process releases alcohol, carbon dioxide and other substances. This release of carbon dioxide allows the bread to rise. This eventually creates a web-like structure in the bread and allows bread to have its signature appearance and quality.

Step Seven (Final Proofing)

During the final stages of the baking process, more carbon dioxide is formed during final proofing. As the temperature increases, the heat begins to force the air cells inside the bread to expand even further. As the heat becomes more intense, the yeast cells begin to die off and the bread is transformed into the soft foam structure that we are familiar to. Then, the crust and outer layers begin to darken and the sugar that is in the crust area reacts with a protein to form the Maillard reaction.

Step Eight (Cooling and Packaging)

After the bread has been fully baked, it is sent to a cooling chamber to settle for an allotted time. If proper cooling is not given, molding could occur sooner, and it could also make the bread harder to slice. Bread is usually cooled for around an hour. After this stage, the bread is packaged and shipped off to stores.

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