Baking & Snack - April 2022 - 58

COOKIE AND BAR PROCESSING
Servo controls and
other components
allow cookie
processing lines
to provide better
control and
versatility to make
multiple products
on a single line.
Middleby Bakery
new and innovative products is critical for producers
and particularly co-manufacturers, who must be able
to adapt quickly to market demands. The easiest way to
add product diversity to an existing product line is with
modular equipment additions. For example, adding bar
cutting, dry ingredient topping, glazing or even jellytopping
capabilities to an existing product line creates a
plethora of new possibilities. "
For burgeoning bakeries, the major challenge involves
mimicking the production of carefully crafted cookies
and bars when automating and scaling up production.
" The challenge for these bakers is to produce the same
product using dough depositors that they were producing
by hand, " said John McIsaac, vice president, strategic
business development, Reiser.
Often, he added, these bakeries don't have several dedicated
lines and need a portioner that can handle multiple
viscosities, inclusions and product shapes and sizes.
" Many of our smaller and medium-sized producers use
Vemag forming systems
for both cookies and bars, "
Mr. McIsaac said. " Our
ability to quickly swap attachments
allows our processors
to go from cookies
to bars and back again
quickly and simply. Being
recipe-driven means
the Vemag can produce
multiple products consistently
with a minimum of
changeover issues. "
Many processing lines
offer other options for
quick changeovers.
" As far as different attachments
go, such as
diverting batter into
58 Baking & Snack April 2022 / www.bakingbusiness.com
To make bars, processors often first use extrusion, then cut the
pieces into the proper length.
Reading Bakery Systems
rows or using different cutting mechanisms, there are
change carts where you can disassemble components
and put another part on, " said Ken Hagedorn, vice
president bakery sector, Handtmann. " If you are talking
about a typical cookie or bar, changeover is very
simple because of the cleanability of our equipment
and the ability to change parts. "
Encapsulated or filled products create additional avenues
for new products. Ms. Winkle described Baker
Perkins' TruClean Servo Wirecuts as " encapsulation
ready. " Bakeries can add a modular encapsulation system
to expand their wirecut processing capabilities to
transform traditional cookies and bars into filled snacks
without any significant change in the overall footprint of
the line.
Mr. Pallottini pointed out that encapsulating or filling
cookies follows a similar path as co-extrusion. However,
an iris cutter is required to pinch the stream of doughs
to encapsulate the inner filling with the outer jacket.
Other processing options, he added, include placing a
rotary moulder or rotary cutting system at the oven infeed
or sheeting cookies and bars using a wirecut and a
special die and filler block.
Perfect fix for a stiff mix
Bakers may also experience several challenges in mixing
highly viscous doughs for cookies and bars.
" At its core, it's a delicate balance between effective ingredient
incorporation to create a perfectly homogenous
dough while avoiding inclusion degradation that can result
from the mixing process, " Ms. Winkle said.
She said Baker Perkins' high-speed mixers offer
a shaftless blade design that allows ingredients to
move more freely about the mixing bowl for rapid,
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