Innovations creating added-value bread

Two innovations developed by Baker Perkins for the Multitex4 bread moulder add value to standard loaves by fully enrobing them with seeds or grains, and by creating attractive swirled loaves – or by doing both on the same machine. These innovations are available both with new machines and as retrofits on existing moulders. Seeding the top, bottom, sides and ends of the loaf (known as fully-enrobing) adds visual appeal to the product as well as value, and supports claims to be tastier and healthier. Demand for seeded bread is growing strongly and is usually met by simply sprinkling seeds or grains onto the top of the loaf as it exits the prover. However less than 25% of the loaf’s surface is covered and there is no way of pressing the seeds into the dough, so a great deal may be left in the bag. There is also waste caused by seeds or grains falling through the gaps between the tins. Baker Perkins technique to make a fully-enrobed loaf involves rolling the coiled dough piece in seeds or grains before panning. This achieves good coverage and simultaneously solves the problems of pressing the seeds into the dough piece and avoiding waste. Metered quantities are deposited on the moulding conveyor to be picked up and lightly pressed into the surface of the dough piece as it rotates under the moulding board. There is no waste, and any leftover seeds drop into the pan with the dough piece. The second innovation incorporates inclusions by interspersing them with the coils of dough. This is the technique used to make classics such as French pain-au-raisin and American cinnamon swirl, and has many advantages compared with simply mixing the inclusions into the dough. Concentrating them in thin strata rather than being widely dispersed creates a much more visually interesting product with an intense flavour hit. Damage to delicate inclusions such as seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips is avoided and it is possible to use fillings that would adversely affect texture if mixed into the dough. Swirl breads with cinnamon or raisins are well established and can readily be made on the Multitex4, but bake stable powders and inclusions such as seeds, chopped nuts, dried fruits and chocolate chips are all possible. The unique close-coupled four-roll sheeting head of the Multitex4 progressively reduces dough thickness to produce a long thin sheet onto which the filling or inclusions are sprinkled or spread. It is the length of sheet that determines the number of coils, and the Mulktitex4 can achieve up to 4.5 coils: moulders with fewer rolls or gaps between them struggle to get beyond 1.5 coils without damaging the dough. Inclusions are added to the dough sheets on a transfer conveyor placed just after the dough sheeter and the sheet is then coiled and moulded as usual. The addition of a transfer conveyor increases the footprint of the Multitex4 moulder but does not diminish in any way its gentle dough handling characteristics or ability to make standard white, wholewheat, wholegrain and brioche loaves. The extended machine can also accommodate the full-enrobing facility, creating a highly flexible moulder that can make a huge range of high-quality standard, enrobed and filled breads.

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