Premixing and transportation
Premixing and transportation
During
premixing and transportation, one can also employ the method of flour and meal
cooling. Silo manufacturers provide systems that allow cooling of flour and whole meal during transportation. Similarly, it should also be possible to heat flour
when it is too cold. This can be particularly desirable for dough and batters
that are temperature-sensitive and have few other ingredients with which to
adjust the dough temperature. When flour is transported with warm or cold
outside air, the temperature influence is often greater than desired,
necessitating a correction method.
In the particular case
of bread dough, warm flour is challenging to correct
with water alone because there needs to be room for the heat generated during
kneading. In puff pastry, this is somewhat the case, and when the dough
temperature is too high, the incorporated fat becomes softer. For cake batters,
both too cold and too warm flour can negatively affect batter viscosity and
homogeneity.
Another
point to consider when pre-processing flour before weighing is sieving. Sieving
has been a tool in artisanal bakeries during dough and batter preparation.
Sieving flour just before adding it to the dough or batter makes it easier and
faster to mix, especially in sponge cake batters due to aeration. Another and
more crucial point for industrial bakeries is that sieving flour allows for the
removal of foreign materials. However, sieves should be adapted for whole wheat
flour.
When a
company frequently uses similar mixtures of baking soda and leavening agents, it is worthwhile to
create a premix of the mentioned raw materials. Keep in mind that the moisture
content of the starch should be low to prevent a loss of leavening power due to
moisture influences. It is also possible to purchase existing baking powders
from the supply industry.
For various
reasons, small ingredients are often mixed in advance with each other or with
another ingredient that serves as a carrier substance. Many suppliers of
auxiliary ingredients have specialized in producing premixes of smaller
additions. From small to large bakeries, they become dependent on the knowledge provided by the supply industry. Knowledge should also be present within the
bakery itself.
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