Trays, pans, tins: Making the baker’s life easier (part I

PART I

Trays with a mission

One characteristic shared by different types of bakeware, from trays to pans or cake molds is their mission to make the baker’s life easier.

+Having your cake

Traditional cake pans, bundt cake pans, cupcake or mini cake pans, springform pans, silicone cake molds, and sheet cake pans – bakeware for cakes is as diverse as the delicious products that are their guests while baking or even afterward. Correctly caring for their delicate visitors is what makes all types of trays essential in supporting bakers. They can be sponge cake trays that carry the cake from the workshop to the store and also make product presentation literally ‘a piece of cake’. Or, molded trays for industrial use, where imprints ensure that every product produced has the same shape to ease packaging and match customer expectations. Non-stick coatings suited to the requirements of individual products are also part of the same conversation, Marc Schulze, Key Account Manager Export, Anneliese, says.

The shape, size and material of the pan directly influence the baking process. Pan selection depends on the cake’s shape and size. For ‘easy’ shapes such as rectangular or round, one can choose between aluminum and alusteel. “While aluminum heats up quickly and is very lightweight, alusteel can store heat for longer compared to aluminum, which gives a different baking result,” Schulze explains. However, for more complex shapes, such as bundt cakes, alusteel is the better option, as it can be pressed into shape easier and can be molded into various shapes, while aluminum would not stand the pressure of stamping, he adds.

That’s not all, production volumes are also a part of the equation when choosing a pan for cakes. Anneliese differentiates between three levels of operations: “First, we have bakers who are happy with individual molds or trays because their production volume does not require a convection wagon oven or a different type of an equivalent baking area. As the business grows and such means of production become interesting, we can work with the baker to design their individual equipment. For example, we could put several cake molds on a strap to be inserted on a rack. This makes handling efficient, as the baker can use their hands to handle three-four cakes instead of only one, in a single mold. Finally, the third level concerns the industrial “Most bakers ask for our patented F-profile system to remove the crossbar for display, because it offers the easiest handling and is more robust than other options”

Marc Schulze, Key Account Manager Export, Anneliese

producers. Of course, pan straps and trays can be customized to fit any industrial bakery line. Those would have a (reinforced) frame and edge bumpers. Moreover, solutions for automated stacking or handling are requested frequently at the moment,” Schulze shares.

Ingredients in cake formulations pose no particular challenges when it comes to pan selection, with the notable special care for free-from products. One consideration that should be kept in mind, however, is that, even if the pan can have relatively complex shapes, e.g. animals, or cars, the cake made with that mold usually lacks details and can look very different from the original concept. “For example, while the eyes of the teddy bear might have irises in the pan, the resulting cake will not have a visible iris. Sharp and small outlines usually don’t work very well,” Anneliese outlines. The company can provide 3D-printed pans at a relatively low cost for testing.

Coatings, however, are an important factor. Cakes usually contain fat, sugar and egg; more often than not, all three. Even a single one of these ingredients can kill most non-stick coatings. Anneliese recommends sharing information about the ingredients in advance with their experts, for appropriate pan recommendations. “However, only real-life tests over several months, or an equivalent number of baking cycles, will tell the whole truth about the suitability or failure of the coating,” Schulze adds. Looking at these difficulties, it becomes apparent why many bakers, regardless of their size and daily production output, do not choose a non-stick coating but use release agents instead. “However, the Anneliese team is convinced that non-stick coatings save work, time, and resources in the long run.”

The most requested type from Anneliese is the simple sponge cake tray still, which can be customized in any size – to fit anything from window displays to ovens and transportation boxes. “Most bakers ask for our patented F-profile system to remove the crossbar for display, because it offers the easiest handling and is more robust than other options. Especially in Germany, people love sponge cakes with different fillings, toppings and icings. Plus, we’re always happy to see people get creative and reinvent the way to use them,” the specialist explains.

In and out of the tray

The depanning method will also depend on the type of cake and production requirements of the line. Sponge cakes can be simply removed from the tray in front of the customer with a cake shovel, for example. Individual pieces are cut either in the factory or at the point of sale, but the cakes stay inside the trays and are also presented inside the tray. This supersedes some production steps and packaging, while also giving the customer a feeling of freshness and proximity to the workshop where the cake was made. For cleaning any cake trays or molds of any shape and size, Anneliese lists the following rules: + Cleaning them regularly – depending on how dirty they are and/or the frequency of baking + Avoiding moisture + Avoiding lye or acid + Selecting an appropriate, ph-neutral cleaning agent with a soft water jet, and using a soft cloth or brushes to clean them + Taking pastries out of molds immediately after baking (to avoid moisture as they cool down) + If the pans are not coated, greasing them for an anticorrosion effect. If they are coated, greasing must be avoided, as it will reduce the coating’s lifetime. + Ensuring the trays and pans are dry before storing them

TheSquarestBread and custom bread tins

Spanish specialist Coatresa provides custom-made tins for bread, which it has been developing in partnership with bakeries for over 40 years. “Our Kaizen philosophy has allowed us to develop changes both in bakeware design and coatings. For example, we developed the Lock Pan patented design for one of our clients to optimize their crustless bread production, reducing their product waste by up to 30%,” says Eduard Castaño, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.

New products are developed, either from scratch or by adapting an existing line. Castaño shared an example: “One of our main clients had problems regarding the stacking of their baguette trays. We developed a specific system that allowed them to increase storage capacity in existing pallets. In this way, they have been able to reduce their storage space more safely (the stacking does not twist when pan-straps are added). This system has since been provided to other clients as well.”

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“We developed the Lock Pan patented design for one of our clients to optimize their crustless bread production, reducing their product waste by up to 30%.”

Eduard Castaño, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Coatresa

The company also notably developed a patented system called ‘TheSquarestBread’ (TSB), which was first developed to produce crustless bread in a regular form as well as a bigger slice size, using less dough and reducing as much waste as possible. The TSB is a mold with a lock system and a lid. “It has patented features that make the bread grow in a regular and controlled way inside the mold’s enclosure. The lid also has special features that achieve this perfect fit in the mold, while obtaining a completely regular shape of the production with a perfect square. Naturally, this mold incorporates all the improvements that we have made, such as vertical corrugation, an edge designed to give the mold more resistance, etc.,” explains Castaño. Currently, the TSB system is also used for ‘regular’ sliced bread, to improve the way it fits the packaging, and for catering manufacturers.

Another improvement, introduced by Coatresa’s founder Tomas Marin, was the change from a lateral corrugation system of 45° to a vertical one, to eliminate the use of release agents, with only the aid of its Testrong® range of non-stick coatings for the job. For sliced bread, Coatresa developed the Testrong® Pyros segment. The Testrong® ROC was designed for the production of glazed burger buns, Testrong® Terracota – for cake trays, and Testrong® Red Metallic, for baguette trays. To match the best coating to each product, the company conducts tests to develop new Testrong® Systems that answer each requirement that comes from the final product, considering the characteristics of the dough. From non-stick coatings to product never sticking

The way the pans and trays are used plays a determining role in preventing the product from sticking. To get the best use out of the coating’s benefits, both the cleaning and the depending processes are key. Sticking issues are usually caused by the deterioration of the coating. “Besides, we have specific technical equipment in our R&D department. There, we constantly trace both the non-stick properties and the interlayer fusion of our coatings in a controlled environment,” Castaño explains. Coatresa provides guidelines regarding the use and care of the coatings to ensure optimal performance of Testrong® Coatings, which include: + The safest cleaning process is by using pressurized air; it is recommended to avoid the use of brushes + Using a soft stacking system, either automatic or manual + Avoid having empty molds or trays should in the oven at temperatures over 200°C + Caustic solutions must not be used for washing

© Coatresa