how bread is made
First, sifted flour is piped into a large electric mixing bowl. The machine mixes the flour with yeast, warm water, and salt. Depending on the type of bread being made, sometimes vitamins or sweeteners are also added to the mixture. The machine kneads the blend together carefully until it reaches the right consistency and forms a delicious dough.
mix
Next, the newly concocted dough is taken to a warm damp room. It is left here for a few hours, allowing the yeast time to react and create gas bubbles. Here, the dough begins to rise as the bubbles push around inside, causing it to spread out and expand in size. The dough is now plump and full of air pockets.
rise
After the large quantity of dough is created, it must be shaped into smaller loaves before going into the oven. The dough travels across a conveyor belt in a machine that forms it. The dough is pulled apart into separate pieces and pounded into rectangular shapes. The dough now begins to look like a loaf of bread.
form
Now that the dough is in the form of loaves, it glides on a moving belt through a large oven to bake. It rises for a final time as it is heated to the perfect temperature. The dough turns a beautiful shade of golden brown, and a tantalizing aroma fills the air. The dough transforms into delicious bread.
bake
After the bread has time to cool outside of the oven, it is placed on a conveyor belt and sliced by a machine. The individual pieces are then wrapped in packaging, kept together as a loaf. The fresh bread is now finally ready to be sent away to bakeries– hungry customers may now eat every delicious bite!
slice
ashley profozich | fall 2015