Planning on Opening a Bakery? Here’s Some Basic Info on the Needed Equipment!

If your plan for success revolves only around your grandma’s years-old recipes and your skills, you won’t make it too far in the competitive bakery industry. You also need to invest in state-of-the-art commercial baking machinery. 

First, mixing the ingredients and the dough by hand is laborious. And then, you need to get to do the baking at the ideal temperature.

It’s a recipe for disaster and exhaustion!

More to the point, providing the same conditions that bring heavenly baked goods on your own isn’t always possible. Some hard-to-control factors like room temperature and humidity can make things complicated for you. More so when counting on exact results only to get something far from consistent.
This is why suitable equipment is one of the most important investments you can make for a profitable bakery. It’s alongside basic expenses you can expect when you decide to open up your place. This includes picking out the ideal spot for the business, choosing furnishings, hiring an insurance broker, and going a step further than the competition with marketing strategies.

It may be hard to choose from the range of top-notch commercial bakery equipment. However, things get simple and easy if you know the whats and hows of bakery machinery.

The Whats of Crucial Bakery Equipment

Many bakers would argue which pieces of equipment are essential. But what most would agree on is that the basics are flour mills, mixers, dough sheeters, depositors, dividers, rounders, proofers, ovens, dishwashers, and steam cleaners.

Flour Mills

While it’s not necessary to have your mill as you can easily get your supply of commercial flour, it’s become a must for modern bakeries to keep up with health trends. If you aim to please your customers and keep them coming back for more of your tasty goods, investing in a mill is important. It guarantees you’d stand out from the crowd in terms of both nutritional value and flavour.

Unlike all-purpose flour, your flour will be packed full of vitamins and minerals. It also gives you the ability to control the grinding settings and experiment with creating your signature quality, consistency and texture. Moreover, since it has a shorter shelf life, you’d have no other choice but to use flour fresh which adds to the taste and flavour. Though, storing it in an airtight container in the commercial freezer or refrigerator might help you extend it, which is good to know if you grind more than you expect.

Mixers

Thank goodness for the invention of commercial mixers! Can you imagine kneading a large quantity of dough all by yourself? In addition to being very tiresome, it’s also very time-consuming, hence the need to make mixers part of your essential baking machinery arsenal.

Lucky for you, there are all sorts of mixers ranging in size and properties. You can choose a mixer based on what you’re baking, the number of batches you’re baking, and the available space you have in the commercial kitchen. The main options you’ll encounter are the spiral and the planetary models.

The first is ideal for kneading the dough of artisanal loaves of bread and the latter offers more variety with the different attachments adequate for various baked goods, including pizzas, pastries, and cookies. Some of these are also flexible for other ingredients, such as meat, vegetables, and cheeses.

Dough Sheeters

If your focus is selling rolled dough goods such as pizzas, flatbreads, pies and tarts, then you ought to invest in these pieces of bakery equipment for sale designed to roll out the dough into thin sheets. Consistency with the thickness is essential with some baked products, which is where the sheeters prove to be of assistance. Besides allowing you to get consistent results every time, they also spare you the effort of trying to do so by hand.

Depositors, Dividers, and Rounders

More in the consistency department, several machines can simplify the dough portioning, shaping, and even decorating if needed. Choose based on the scaling accuracy, speed, weight, dough moisture levels, and ease of cleanliness and watch the magic these machines do at the push of a few buttons.

Proofers

As their name explains it, these cabinets are for proofing the dough. Proofing is the process between kneading and baking, which you might otherwise know as the rising of the dough. It’s this exact process that makes the end product airy and light. The more dough rises, the more delicate and lighter the product would be. While it may seem like a simple thing to do, it requires temperature and humidity consistency which is where the proofers shine.

Ovens

It doesn’t matter whether baking pizza, pastries or artisanal bread, you can’t do so without the appropriate bakery oven made for the job. Get the wrong one and you risk burning your delicacies or ruining all your hard work with improperly baked dough. Given the high production environment in bakeries, commercial ovens are better than their conventional counterparts because they ensure consistency, even distribution of heat, and heavy-duty use.

Dishwashers

While at first glance you may not think of them as absolute necessities, trust me, they are. Or did you think you and your colleagues or employees are capable of washing up every single dish or utensil used in the dough prep by hand? Pick out a commercial dishwasher most suited for your needs choosing with the assistance of your budget, the available space in the kitchen, the energy efficiency, and the dishwashing type and capacity, and you’d see how handy it would turn out to be in the long run!

Steam Cleaners

Hygiene and cleanliness are of the utmost importance in a commercial kitchen and the bakery is no exception. Still, remember it takes time and labour to keep things spotless all the time, getting a little help from a machine won’t hurt, so if you have some money left after investing in the abovementioned pieces, be sure to pick out a steam cleaner.

The Hows of Shopping for Crucial Bakery Equipment

Okay, now that you know the whats, let’s move on to the hows of acquiring the essential bits of machinery for your business. First and foremost, it’s significant to point out you can’t trade quality for cheapness as you’d end up paying more eventually when the equipment starts letting you down.

Pick quality every time and you won’t regret it. What I mean by this is to opt for state-of-the-art designs instead of second-hand equipment. Still, don’t forget to set your budget so you know how much you’re left to work with when doing the shopping. If possible, see whether you can benefit from food financing solutions.

If borrowing money from a reputable lender is not an option, decide what is necessary and without what you can live. Don’t forget to consider the reputation of the retailer and the place where you purchase the equipment. Today, it’s simple to read reviews online and compare models and costs. Additionally, some shops could let you try out the equipment before you decide to buy it.

This would give you an idea of the adequate size, capacity, and features for your business needs. In addition to price,  ask about maintenance and repair services and check the warranties. After all, you need to know where your money goes!