Baking & Snack - July 2004 - 114

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

ᮤ This pizza decoration line features an automatic
sauce spreader, an edge-free cheese and vegetable
applicator, and virtual pizza tracking system.
TROMP BAKERY EQUIPMENT

observed the equipment supplier.
PLCs store up to 50 different
recipes with belt speeds, roller gaps
and cutting widths all memorized
and provide roller gaps accurate to
±0.05 mm. A new product can be
started even while the previous product is finishing up on the line. Special
synthetic belts can be washed down
for easy sanitation. Quick release
belts and scrapers on all rollers and
belts are additional benefits.

four different sizes of cutters on an
axle," said the supplier.
A Georgia-based supplier offers
extruded and stress-free sheeting
lines. The stress-free line doesn't require oil, uses minimal dusting flour
and yields a dough sheet without
any hour glassing. Its sheeting components have 600-mm multirollers
and two roll sheeters with up to
11-in. diameters. Its laminating pizza
crust line is used typically by operations where the crust is pre-proofed
and then frozen for the end-user.
Constructed with direct drives, the
system uses no chains so the lines
are very quiet. The equipment has a
central greasing point for each head.
"We have the biggest pizza line in the
country running up to 30,000 lb per
hour," the supplier noted.
A completely automated carousel
system holds up to 10 cutters. Changeovers are as simple as loading the
program and pushing a button: The
cutter is automatically put in position.
Another supplier offers straight
sheeting and stress-free lines as well
as a panless system. Roller and guillotine cutting systems are available
for sheeting lines, or the supplier
offers a hydraulic press for making
dough balls into pizza bases. Roller

114 / BAKING & SNACK / July 2004

cutters are constructed on a drum
and built about 10% oblong to account for the shrink factor. "When
cutting a round product, 30% to
38% scrap is common, so we design
the system to reincorporate that
scrap into the hopper or mixer and
help customers formulate their mix
to accommodate the added scrap,"
said the equipment supplier.
Scrap has active yeast so it can
be treated like a starter, or it can be
liquefied and used like a sponge. "If
you're not looking for a stress-free
system, then you can incorporate
the scrap dough into the hopper,
dough sheeter or extruder," said the
supplier. "In a stress-free system, a
small percentage of the scrap would
have to go back into the mixer or be
liquified and added back."
The lines feature added benefits
as well. "Our customers use 30% less
dusting flour because of the design of
our line and how the rollers impact
the dough, and our special belting requires less flour on the bottom of the
dough sheet," explained the supplier.
"It's really the design of the sheeting rollers, satellite head or quickreduction station, and the size of your
gauging rollers that make a big difference in the quality of your crust,"

SHOWERING ON SAUCE. Once
the base is formed, the crust is ready
for topping. Sauce application is the
next hurdle. A common method uses
a positive displacement pump to
control the flow and amount of the
sauce with pneumatics. The pump
pushes sauce through a pattern plate,
designed like a showerhead with the
number holes positioned to fit the
diameter of the pizza. "Our sauce
equipment is all 'targeted,' which
means that a specific pattern size
and portion is deposited on to each
crust," noted one supplier.
Target application deposits the
sauce precisely where it is wanted,
leaving the pizza border completely
sauce free. Many versions of these
machines are available to match the
pizza maker's production requirements. "Our moving head systems are
capable of topping up to 75 pizzas per
lane per minute or up to 13,500 12-in.
pizzas per hour," he explained.
"Our sauce applicators do not actually touch the crust; they deposit the
sauce in the finished pattern without
the need for a secondary spreading
operation," added the supplier. Applicators are designed to work with
different varieties of sauce.
Another manufacturer's patented
sauce depositors can handle formulations with light or heavy particulates
such as seasonings or tomato rinds.
"Our border-free sauce applicator

Baking & Snack - July 2004

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