Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008 - (Page 26)

2008 W ho l e s a l e Ba k e r o f t h e Y e a r “It contributes a lot to the flavor and texture of the products,” Snell notes. “I would have never guessed you can have a sponge ferment for 10 to 12 hours without having to deal with an old dough situation or having to adjust your mix time to try to compensate for it.” If the production goes down for 90 minutes in a conventional sponge-and-dough bread bakery, bakers have to scramble to tweak formulas as well as mixing times and temperatures to maintain the quality of the products. “Here, if you lose an hour of time, there are no adjustments that have to be made,” Snell says. “Your bandwidth of tolerance is very wide.” Flexible Philosophy The 63,000 sq. ft. is certified organic by Quality Assurance International, has four different Kosher certifications and a superior rating from the American Institute of Baking. That’s not always easy when producing organic products. Long fermentation and proofing times, Snell says, don’t lend themselves to automation. Fortunately, the bakery freezes products and bakes to inventory, which provides both operational versatility and production efficiencies. Baking to inventory allows the bakery to schedule long runs and minimize changeovers. Production runs on two, 10-hour shifts four days a week. The longer runs help bakers produce more consistent products because they aren’t stopping and starting up while the longer shift times provide employees with a three-day weekend, more family time and saves fuel costs driving to and from work, Snell says. Organic white and whole-wheat flour are stored in 70,000 lb. silos enclosed inside the plant. All other dry and liquid ingredients come in 50-lb. bags and totes. Minor and micro ingredients, including compressed yeast, are pre-scaled by hand per batch while bulk flour is automatically metered into the spiral mixers. Sponges, stored in 150-lb. containers, are added to the dough. In addition to providing flavor and texture, the sponge along with a little At Charter Baking’s plant in Boulder, Colo., a batch of dough is dumped from a spiral mixer. After baking, loaves of Rudi’s Organic bread pass through a depanner before cooling. Continued from page 24 erned the bread-making process seemingly didn’t apply in the art-of-baking world. Were they certified crazy? No, just certified organic. Take batch sizes for instance. For conventional breads, it’s not unusual to mix batches of dough to range anywhere from 1,500 lb. to even 3,000 lb. For Rudi’s Organic bread, batches never exceed 700 lb. and 450 lb. for buns and rolls. “It’s an old-home, Old World methodology of making things in small batches and controlling what you do and ensuring the end-product is consistent,” Snell explains. Or check out the sponge-and-dough process for a conventional product versus that for Rudi’s Organic sandwich and artisan breads. In the conventional world, sponges typically ferment in a temperaturecontrolled room at around 80°F for three to four hours. A batch of dough usually contains 70% to 80% sponge. To produce Rudi’s bread, sponges ferment for up to 12 hours in a 58°F room. A batch of dough contains no more than 15% sponge. How can that be? 26 Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - SEPTEMBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008

Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008 Contents Editor’s Note For Goodness Sakes Better Than the Rest Unconventional Thinking Easy Does It New Products In the Comfort Zone Engineering Management The ASB Column Printer Keeps Production Running Equipment Briefs Better Than the Rest The Final Word

Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008

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