The process of mixing

Mixing is a processing step that has various goals, partly depending the product you are planning to make as well as the process that will follow after this mixing. Other words often used are Dispersing, Dissolving, Blending, Cutting, Aerating and Kneading in this same relation. Together they all have the same goal: achieving a certain consistency of ingredients that are brought together. As most equipment used in this stage of the process are called mixers, we will call this stage mixing:

During this process of mixing the following objectives can be pursued:

1.            Bringing all ingredients together

2.            Dissolving/ Hydrating ingredients

3.            Homogenising/ Distribution of all ingredients evenly throughout the dough

4.            Incorporating gases (air, O2, CO2, N2)/ Aeration

5.            Achieving the desired consistency

6.            Achieving a certain temperature

7.            Achieving a certain texture/structure of this mix.

8.            Achieving a certain density

 

Basically depending on the viscosity and consistency we would call the result of this mixing action:

A.            Dough (More Solid)

B.            Batter (More Liquid)

Some ingredients must be dissolved during mixing and the particle size influences the mixing time, otherwise these ingredients might still be visible after the baking process. The moment of the addition of raw materials in the mixer, the influence of each of the raw materials, dough temperature and the mixing time all play a vital role in this process.

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