Baking & Snack - June 2007 - 73

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

COOL

Progress

Changes in cooling systems address
their energy efficiency and processing speed.
BY LAURIE GORTON
f the factors that determine the quality of finished baked products, only formulation supersedes time and temperature. So in a process
that carefully controls the amount and duration
of heat applied to doughs and batters, why is the average bakery's approach to cooling so much less rigorous?
Relegating cooling to ambient plant conditions tends to
lengthen the time required. It also can lead to variations
in packaging efficiency.
Cooling, assisted by refrigeration, addresses this situation. Other current developments in cooling technology
include improvements in the energy efficiency of refrigeration installations and cooling chambers as well as
capital savings provided by smaller plant footprints and
less conveyor linkages.

TWO-STAGE COOLING. The newest wrinkle (no pun
intended) in bread cooling is a 2-stage process using both
ambient and refrigerated systems. The idea is to deliver
bread loaves to the slicers and baggers at a consistent internal temperature that optimizes product quality and
packaging performance.
Bread exits the oven with an internal temperature
around 180°F. The crust can be very hot, close to 400°F.
Because ambient conditions in the bakery are much
lower, a good deal of the loaf 's surface heat flashes off as
the bread leaves the oven. Within a short time, internal
temperatures can drop into the 110 to 120°F range; how-

ever, the crust also insulates the crumb to slow the rate of
cooling from this point on.
Conventional bread cooling methods employ open
conveyors and room temperature conditions. Hot loaves
leave the oven and travel on a long, looped, continuous
belt, usually ceiling-mounted in empty space above other
processing equipment. A leisurely 60 minutes or so later,
the loaves descend to the slicing and bagging lines. This
method works well for long runs of bread made from the
same formulation. Today, however, long runs are the exception, and varieties crowd production schedules. Time
is money, and not every formulation shows the same
cooling curve out of the oven.
I.J. White, a manufacturer of spiral conveyor systems for
cooling, refrigeration and freezing applications based at
Farmingdale, NY, reported an increase in bread line projects
using ambient temperature pre-cooling followed by refrigerated final cooling. The idea is to get loaves to the packaging department at consistently the same temperature.
The 2-stage system is composed of an ambient precooling conveyor that accepts bread fresh from the
oven, allowing loaves to shed heat under ambient conditions. Then the loaves enter an enclosed spiral conveyor
equipped with a high-density refrigeration system,
releasing them a few minutes later. The system saves
ᮡ By removing fans and coils from the product zone, this new refrigeration
system increases production area.
I.J. WHITE

June 2007 / BAKING & SNACK / 77

Baking & Snack - June 2007

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