Proven to Lower Energy Costs

ePAN® designs from American Pan have been proven to save bakeries money on every bake. In fact, one customer reduced gas usage by almost 8% year over year by switching to an ePAN.

Energy solutions like wind turbines and solar panels are a major investment and require a large amount of dedicated space. ePANs can fit on your existing bakery line and save you money from the very first bake. Here’s how:

Decreased Oven Temperature

Oven temperatures have decreased by up to 30°C when using ePANs.*

Reduced Baking Time

Baking times have been reduced by up to 45 seconds.*

REDUCED WEIGHT OF BAKING TRAYS & TINS

Trays and tins are up to 30% lighter, requiring less energy from bakery systems and employees for handling.*

*Results from real bakery experience. Results may vary based on specific bakery conditions.

Louise Slade established the glass transition temperature theory more than 30 years ago. It states that a mixture of starch and water can change into a glass-like state at a very specific temperature. The process corresponds to a melting process in which the crystalline structure of the starch changes into a glassy state. If the glass is left to stand for a while, the starch gradually recrystallizes again. This temperature-dependent process is reversible several times, i.e. it can be repeated over and over again. The principle of the vacuum baking oven is based on the reversibility of the starch’s glass transition.”

The UDO can be used in a very wide range of applications:

+ It can bake off deep-frozen small and fine pastries, as well as bread rolls weighing less than 250 g each, considerably faster than conventional technology

+ It carries out the baking process in the shortest possible time for part-baked whole loaves with a higher unit weight (up to 1,000 g), stored at a cool or ambient temperature

+ The UDO can quickly prepare baked snacks that are also cooled down to a temperature suitable for immediate consumption

+ The UDO can be used to double-bake unsold goods from the previous day. These products can simply be baked again the next morning, and the original freshness and

Baker & Baker launches American-style cookies

desired degree of crispness are restored. “For the baker, however, this also means that the range of products available for sale may well go up again the next morning, since everything can be re-baked, thanks to the UDO,” he observes.

+ It can have baked goods ready for dispatch in a matter of minutes, for delivery services or click & collect

Fresh off the drawing board

The patented UDO technology has been tested in well-known European bakeries over the past year, with positive reviews. “We have just delivered the first 25 ovens to our first customers, which are prestigious bakeries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; and 15 more will follow in the upcoming weeks. After a testing phase of around three months, the official sales will start,” Cermak reveals.

The UDO configurations start with models for 6 to 8 baking trays, depending on tray spacing and product height. At the request of the first customers, the next model series will be a rack oven for a trolley with 10 to 18 trays, measuring 40 x 60 cm each, and a combi version with two separate baking chambers. A snack oven for pizzas and baked snacks will also go into production soon, which will be baking and vacuum cooling in under two minutes. The new oven will be the first in a series of its own. +++

Harry-Brot expands

Baker & Baker launched a new cookie range in the UK. The Brooklyn Coffee Bar cookies come in two flavors (double chocolate and rich chocolate) and each cookie is individually wrapped, to suit food-to-go convenience needs. Each thaw and serve 75g cookie is Rainforest Alliance certified, Palm Oil SG, and suitable for vegetarians. The cookies have a post-defrost shelf life of 10 days.

“The American-style cookies offer the eating quality of a freshly baked cookie with the convenience of a wrapped cookie,” the bakery highlights. The soft baked rich chocolate cookie is made from a dark short dough with white and dark Belgian chocolate chunks and a hint of vanilla, while the double chocolate cookie is made from the same short dough, with dark Belgian chocolate chunks. +++

Harry-Brot broke ground for the expansion of its production site in Troisdorf, which will also create 100 new jobs. The goal is to bake fresh bread and toast here from Q1 of 2024, in addition to frozen rolls, baguettes and lye products. The company seeks specialists as well as trainees in fields ranging from machine and plant management to food technology, technicians and more.

“Our commitment to the region goes far beyond job creation. We are planning partnerships with schools to offer internships for young people and make it easier for them to enter the workforce. In addition, we regularly participate in events such as the ‘Night of Technology’ to share our knowledge and experience with the community,” Harry-Brot wrote in a LinkedIn post. +++

In-store baking efficiency: check!

There are numerous approaches to in-store baking optimization, depending on the concept of each bakery, its product needs and the baseline of its operations. The big expectations come from oven innovation.

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The very concept of in-store baking is to efficiently provide customers with oven-fresh baked goods, with the ability to flexibly react to changing demands and even using the oven as a sales assistant. To optimize sales and minimize product waste, baking can be done – as needed – in an area accessible to customers and passers-by, for the all-enticing ‘sight-and-scent’ baking, in the words of Prof. Edgar Wenz.

Smart tools drive efficiency

Energy usage can be optimized by only baking full decks, in shorter time frames to benefit from residual heat instead of reheating the ovens entirely every time. Monitoring makes perfect control, and energy management tools such as the MIWE sbs:energymonitor does just that: it can help analyze baking times, monitor the status of the oven and be used to create practical baking calendars.

They are more, in terms of useful tools that help increase baking efficiency: smart refrigeration systems. “Product freshness can be optimized with procedures such as the MIWE smartproof, for products like rolls, or even baking bread via the MIWE smartfresh system, which also helps take the toll off tiring night shifts because raw or parbaked products can be stored overnight easily and in the positive temperature range, saving energy,” MIWE’s experts point out.

Bake faster and smarter

There are several ways to shorten baking times and save energy by using the MIWE optitherm temperature control (which is now available for the MIWE condo), by accurately adjusting the heating power to the baking process, respectively to the specific needs of various types of products. The MIWE optitherm system consists of a special lining in the baking chamber, a new controller for heating elements, a modified temperature sensor, and updated software.

In addition to a shorter baking time, it helps achieve evenly baked products as the energy is evenly distributed inside the baking chamber, and can even be used for more demanding specialties such as soft doughs. “This is possible because MIWE optitherm allows for more precise regulation of the heating power output of the heating elements. By using this feature, the temperature curve in the baking chamber can be guided more precisely along the ideal curve, which leads to more efficient and faster baking results,” the specialist explains.

“MIWE optitherm was developed on our international customers’ requests to make systems even more flexible in the bandwidth of products they could bake and regarding baking times.” Baking faster means less energy is needed for the same amount of baking goods. Shorter baking times also support increased productivity, since more products can be baked in a given timeframe.

Bake flexibly

To further optimize energy use, an essential variable needs to be addressed, inherent to in-store baking: demand fluctuations and balancing baking for and in between peak hours. MIWE’s answer to this variable is called the MIWE flexbake®, an automatic system that compensates for process and volume fluctuations.

With the flexbake, the temperature in the baking chamber of a convection oven is controlled via the output of the heating element and air circulation. When placing cold goods in the oven, a ‘counter-cooling’ effect is enabled in the baking chamber: if fewer dough pieces than usual are brought in, or if they are warmer than usual, the countercooling effect is less intense. This causes the temperature curve inside the oven to rise significantly. Conversely, leaving a door open for a long time cools down the baking chamber considerably. “Process fluctuations of this kind occur time and again; but, they result in a baking process that is optimized for the right operating scenario,” the specialist explains. The MIWE flexbake ® system ensures that the baking station compensates for any process fluctuations of this kind automatically, intelligently and flexibly. As such, it is ‘taught’ – in one ‘learning session’ per product/baking program – set up under ideal conditions for baking efficiency (full load, correct loading temperature of the goods). It saves the temperature curve recorded and then always controls the baking chamber temperature along this ideal curve, while operating in flexbake® mode. “This is how the same perfect baking results are always achieved in the process, even with fluctuations,” MIWE’s specialist underlines.

Bake eco

The MIWE eco-Mode provides additional tools to adjust to demand fluctuations: it maintains the oven in a low-energyconsuming standby mode that keeps it ready to quickly begin baking. The ‘eco mode’ automatically identifies the optimum balance between the lowest-possible level of energy consumed to keep the oven bake-ready at any given moment. To achieve this, the temperature of the baking chamber is automatically decreased to a freely-configurable value, either after a baking cycle finishes or after a preset idle period. The eco mode can also be activated manually, defining the time when it should start baking.

How (and when) to work with it? On paper, “Using the MIWE eco-Mode is always a good idea,” the expert observes. However, switching the oven off entirely makes for the biggest savings. This will be the most advantageous course of action when it is very likely that the oven will not be needed for a predictable/extended amount of time. “The same goes for deck ovens: one deck can stay in eco-Mode, while others can be fully switched off,” MIWE illustrates. When (un)predictable demand fluctuations are expected, the MIWE eco-Mode helps to have the oven ready to bake faster than a ‘cold start’. In addition to saving energy, this also means that the