Baking & Snack - October 2019 - 70

FLATBREAD TECHNOLOGY

to explore automation. "There are still bakers that are
hand-stretching to conform to labels, but at AMF Bakery
Systems, we help imitate and automate this process with
cutters, dockers and the like," Mr. Adams said. "During
pizza production, we can stamp an impression to replicate that hand-stretched appearance while improving
line efficiencies."
When automating, Mr. Moline suggested placing every possible product formulation on the to-do list. That
will ultimately determine the flexibility, capacity and
even the length of the line, which can be an issue in an
existing bakery with a finite footprint.
As a general rule, dedicated lines are shorter but offer
higher capacity. "If you have as much as 10 to 12 additional feet on a makeup table, you have a line that can
incorporate many systems such as depositing, cutting
stations, trim removal and more," Mr. Moline said. "It's
pretty darn flexible."
Formulation also dictates the number and type of
components on a line. "If you're looking at a thin-crust
pizza or a flour tortilla, we'll approach it with our tri-roll
extruder or three-roll former," Mr. Moline explained.
"It results in a very consistent grain structure. It's high
capacity, which is often suited for those kinds of products. If it's a naan or foodservice flatbread that's softer
and more open grain, we would go right to our Yoga nostress dough former."
Koenig's modular lines can be retrofitted or tailored
to create flatbreads with a variety of sizes and thicknesses, according to Mr. Breeswine. "Different cutting tools
can create various ovals, rounds, large rounds and other
shapes easily," he said.
Koenig's Menes-H dough sheeting line can process up
to 11,023 lb of dough an hour and can be combined with

other forming stations, seeding units, stamping devices,
cutting tools and proofers. The company developed a
3-roll dough sheet former for the Menes-H dough sheeting line and can create soft, large-cell doughs. The side
plates and rollers are easy to remove for cleaning, maintenance and changeovers. Meanwhile, its "Twin Sat" double
satellite head creates a tension-free dough sheet as it's reduced in thickness.
Other options allow the dough to rest during the
process. "It is important to give the dough the time it
needs," noted Manuel Hobacher, master baker and head
of the Koenig technology center in Austria. "It can make
a huge difference to include a longer conveyor belt between dough sheet calibration and cutting the dough
sheet into flatbread shape dough pieces. Then the dough
has more time to relax, and the shape becomes much
nicer and more stable."
Mr. Svenningson noted the new Wellbake ADS 1100
sheeting system for flatbreads, pizzas and tortillas features
the SoftFeed extruder that's gentle enough to allow scrap
dough to return directly to the hopper and mix with fresh
dough while retaining the quality. The line's Wave spreader does not touch the dough. Rather, he said, its threebelt, Z-pass system allows for the gentle processing and
relaxation before product forming on the makeup table
without the need for intermediate proofing.

Cutting the tension
Mr. Magistrelli suggested that mimicking the handstretched feel begins with a low-stress dough sheeter to
create a tensionless sheet that can easily be manipulated
into the desired texture. Some bakers use a "knuckle"
docker to create what looks like small finger impressions into the dough prior to baking. Moreover, he

New ways to elevate flatbread production
Because the world of flatbreads is
so diverse, bakers can select from a
menu of traditional and non-conventional processes that provide a host
of benefits.
Patrick Nagel, key account manager, WP Bakery Group USA, noted
its dough dividers gently create
flatbread dough with little or no
scrap that needs to be recycled back
to mixer or hopper. "The produced
scrap is virtually zero while accurate
product weights can be achieved over
long production runs," Mr. Nagel said.
"Large amounts of scrap dough, es-

70 Baking & Snack October 2019 / www.bakingandsnack.com

pecially in thin products, will lead to
drying out of the product and might
shorten the shelf life."
Several years ago, bakers asked
Rheon to use its stress-free dividing and stretching process to develop a totally different pita bread.
"I thought they were crazy to use
a stress-free line for pitas, but the
resulting product was incredible,"
said John Giacoio, vice-president
of sales, Rheon USA. "It looked traditional, but it had a tender bite."
Having the proper oven can
dramatically impact the final

product characteristics. "At AMF
Den Boer, the development and
improvements of infrared burners
have been instrumental in enhancing processes," said Clint Adams,
director of sales US & Canada, AMF
Tromp and AMF Den Boer, part of
AMF Bakery Systems. "Our infrared burners assist in the reduction
of bake time while improving the
product's quality with enhanced
taste and color. Compared with traditional blue-flame ribbon burners,
there is much more control over
the heat transfer."

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Baking & Snack - October 2019

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