Baking & Snack - July 2017 - 82

DIVIDERS

Double-screw technology,
along with an adjustable
vacuum system and
hopper infeed, allows for
dividing at a wide range of
production speeds.
Reiser

the future, bakers must also consider versatility.
Stiffer doughs that move at lower speeds might be
easier to run, but they require a versatile scaling system
that can handle the range of production speeds for specific dough types. According to Mr. McIsaac, the Reiser
Vemag system can accomplish that. Designed with double-screw technology, the Vemag divider is equipped
with a fully adjustable vacuum system and hopper
infeed. "We match the system to the product and the
speed of the line," Mr. McIsaac said. "The machine is
recipe-driven, and variables are changed from product
to product with minimal operator intervention."
Bakers must also consider consistency. "Options like a
top-mount dough developer are available, which reduce the
size of air pockets in the dough and improves consistency,"
Mr. Sanchez said. "This unit receives dough from the final
mixer and feeds emulsified dough into the divider hopper."

Handle with care
With any equipment purchase, bakers know when
they've found "the one." But bakers are constantly innovating with more clean-label, organic and specialty
bread formulations than ever before. What if there's
more to the story?
"The WP/Gemini line of volumetric dividers has recently seen an increase in use for the gourmet pan bread
and hearth bread producers," said Patrick Harp, business
development engineer, Gemini/KB Systems. "Our clients are seeing great success in producing many types of
organic and specialty products, including artisan breads
and rolls." Mr. Harp noted that Gemini's B700 and V900
volumetric dividers have suited these doughs well with a
portioning hopper above the divider hopper, which together helps divide the dough evenly and gently while
using less power.

82 Baking & Snack July 2017 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Today's divider technology is shattering many assumptions bakers can make regarding divider capabilities. "Many bakers have a preconceived idea that piston
dividers cannot handle softer doughs or those that require
floor time," said Patricia Kennedy, president, WP Bakery
Group. "The WP 'V' series dividers can actually handle
soft doughs with a great deal of accuracy," she said, noting
that WP's piston dividers are designed to allow bakers to
adjust parameters for that gentle production. "Our fully
programmable computer-controlled systems ensure we
are always within the correct parameters."
Bread making can be a punishing process. Dough often endures a certain amount of abuse ... but it can only
take so much. At some point, it needs some TLC if it's
going to survive.
For starters, a slow increase in temperature is important for high-moisture doughs. "These products tend to
get very sticky even with just a slight increase in temperature," Mr. Campbell said. In many ways, today's softer
doughs are formulated in such a way that high pressure
for high-speed dividing is no longer the quick fix. "The
higher-pressure dividers used in the past to get those
high speeds are a problem with these sensitive doughs,"
he said. "The divider needs to do the same accurate scaling with less work on the dough."
On piston dividers, simple additions such as
Sottoriva's hydraulic piston pressure adjustment and adjustable tension on its drum rounding allows for dividing without punishment.
Koenig's Industry Rex piston dividers feature gentle
processing when the dough is pushed into the pistons
only as often as necessary to fill them. Its 10-row version
has a maximum hourly capacity of about 36,000 pieces
with 60 strokes per minute, Mr. Breeswine said. The system also features a portioning system equipped with star
rollers. "They cut only the needed portions, which are
regulated by sensors." After the dough is cut in the drum,
pieces rotate 180 degrees before being discharged onto the
intermediate belt. "This step is particularly important for
high processing rates because it allows the dough to rest
between portioning and rounding," he added.
For softer doughs like ciabatta, Koenig offers dough
sheeting for dividing, such as with its Menes gravimetric
divider. "This enables a more gentle process and also
maintains the dough structure," Mr. Breeswine said.
Before the advent of low-stress dividing technology,
bakers often divided high-moisture artisan doughs by
hand. Although the intent was to go easier on the dough
than a piston divider, it could often become counterproductive. "Bakers would just dump the dough out on
the bench, cut pieces off and throw it onto a scale. It was
hard to hit the right weight, so they would piecemeal it,
throw some on or take some off," Mr. Giacoio said. And

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Baking & Snack - July 2017

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