Innovation, helping equipment makers stay ahead

France, a country celebrated for its gastronomy, has the bakery and patisserie tradition in its blood. French manufacturers have a strong respect for this tradition, combined with an ability to draw on technological innovations, often developed by their in-house designers.

Whether in terms of safety, ease of cleaning, ergonomics or processes, food equipment benefits from modern technologies that enhance both product quality and user comfort.

With design teams working in-factory, French manufacturers demonstrate their technical advances, year on year, particularly at national trade fairs such as the Bakery, Patisserie, Confectionery and Catering Exhibition, coming up in March 2009 (see article in Newsletter n°2) and international events such as Europain, next taking place in 2010. Every innovation patented and technical development registered illustrates two principles upheld by manufacturers: to create tools that reflect the practices of today and tomorrow, and to preserve this ideal lead over the increasing competition. As Bernard Zorn, CEO of Mécatherm, puts it: “Our existence is based solely on our ability to innovate”.

Supporting the baker at work

“As specialists in the mechanisation of dough handling, our obligations in terms of development are very clear: our machines must first and foremost respect the dough, and must reproduce manual actions as accurately as possible. They must be multifunctional and suited to the preparation of a wide variety of breads, through the use of carefully designed accessories. Finally, to support growing bakery businesses, our engineers design adaptable machines,” explains Yannick Gérard, CEO of Mérand. For example, a manual prover can become automatic, or an automatic loader could be added to an automatic system.

The ideal solution for smaller businesses, the completely modular semi-industrial line is taking off and French manufacturers are constantly coming up with ideas for new features for their equipment. By carefully choosing their modules, bakers can create their own universal bread and viennoiserie production lines.

For the artisan baker, this multifunctional, compact equipment is ideal. The latest must-have is the four-in-one dividing machine. It incorporates a hydraulic divider with cutters, a shaping divider for baguettes and traditional loaves, a divider with grille for pavé loaves and rolls, and a butter press for viennoiserie. 

The art of adapting to the dough

Today, designers and bakers work together to develop dividers, shapers, mixers. “It’s not about selling machines any more, what we sell are quality breads and productivity,” explains one manufacturer. Knowledge of the craft means the mechanisation of dough handling can be improved and the optimum bread quality attained, even on an industrial scale. After the raw and pre-cooked frozen solutions, the latest challenge for automatic industrial lines has been to produce additive-free frozen cooked loaves that match consumer demand, using highly fermented, moist doughs at the outset and a patented dough dividing technique, with no compression or degassing. This was achieved by the French manufacturer Mécatherm, generating plenty of interest among industrial bakers in other countries who appreciate the quality of our French breads. Another advantage of the new-generation frozen cooked bread is that it takes just three minutes to transform the frozen product into a consumer-ready loaf of “artisan quality”, with no problems of dough flaking or drying. The speed of the process should appeal to bake-offs and sandwich shops as well as automatic distributor concepts.

French manufacturers possess valuable expertise in the handling of soft, very moist doughs which require specially designed equipment. In recent years, they have created innovative new tools that accurately replicate manual movements (eg in terms of moulders, a satellite head that is adjustable for all types of dough, and pre-sheeting and sheeting systems that do not stress the dough – patented, of course). They consider every detail, right down to the type of material used to line the proving chambers. The design of a very closely woven synthetic fibre, specially suited to moist doughs, means the dough is less likely to stick while retaining more humidity.


From empirical methods to controlled measurement

“Traditionally, bakers have relied on their senses when it comes to kneading. They use their experience to determine the kneading time. This method of managing the kneading doesn’t take into account the actual physical conditions, and becomes irrelevant as soon as any parameter changes (ingredient, temperature, kneading apparatus),” explains José Cheio De Oliveira, head of R&D at VMI. With the aim of creating new dough handling tools, VMI, which specialises in kneaders and mixers, has in recent years joined forces with universities to research the links between the mechanical phenomena in the dough, the parameters of the kneader (shape, speed of rotation of the bowl and the tool) and the bread recipe (ingredients, temperature, etc.). “The aim is to be able to model what happens in a kneading machine so that eventually we can make sensors that will measure the precise degree of kneading,” adds José Cheio De Oliveira.

Using a method of monitoring kneading in real time, bakers would be able to guarantee the exact reproducibility of their loaves. This is how new food equipment monitoring organisations are helping to contribute to the optimum quality of the finished product.

The optimisation of energy efficiency

The improvement of equipment energy efficiency is one of the subjects addressed by EKIP's Technical Committee (see Newsletter n°2). Because the oven consumes the most energy in the bakery, manufacturers have already reduced energy consumption by optimising insulation and improving designs and controls. “For example, on standard gas and oil ovens, we are now able to use exchangers to recover calories from combustion fumes,” explains Didier Wanaverbecq, Technical Director of Bongard. Manufacturers are also investing in research, like the Braise project launched in January 2008 and co-ordinated by Lionel Boillereaux, a researcher at ENITIAA (the national school of agricultural engineering). This four-year project involves eight French partners (1) and aims to develop new baking methods that respect the bread’s physical and chemical characteristics (nutritional, sensorial, rheological) and that use less energy. “To start with, we will develop a complete model that can retranscribe everything that happens to the bread during baking, using different energy sources. This will then be used to develop the engineering side, in terms of design and monitoring,” explains Lionel Boillereaux.

Intelligent materials

Utensils are being developed in new materials that are better suited to professional needs. Composite materials are light and easy to shape, and are ideal for making ergonomic utensils that often have more than one use. An example is the ingenious spatula that withstands high temperatures and has an integral thermometer. “As well as working on utensil form, more attention is being paid to their use, and to communication aspects. The idea is to develop two-in-one products that free up one of the user’s hands, for example,” points out François Bidoux, Marketing Director at Matfer.

The new composite non-stick rigid moulds also offer a number of advantages when making larger products, such as sandwich loaves, for example:
-    no greasing required,
-    compatible with controlled fermentation chambers,
-    easy to clean surfaces,
-    dishwasher safe,
-    even heat conduction,
-    freezer safe.

Manufacturers are, as we can see, investing in every aspect of research to provide the best support for their customers and ensure they have a bright future ahead.
(1)    The eight partners in the Braise programme are:
•    GEPEA - Process engineering for environment and food
•    Laboratoire de Thermocinétique de Nantes (thermokinetics research institute)
•    Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Matériaux de Bretagne (materials engineering institute)
•    Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique– Biopolymères et Assemblage (national institute of agronomics, biopolymers and assembly research)
•    Laboratoire Grenoble-Image-Parole-Signal-Automatique (image, speech, signal and automation research institute)
•    INBP (the National Bakery & Patisserie Institute)
•    EDF R&D
•    Bongard


Some key developments in food equipment

User health:
-    preventing flour dust emissions from kneaders and mixers with transparent closed bowl covers and automatic flour sprinklers on emission-reducing dividers,
-    optimised ergonomics to reduce muscular/skeletal problems and to encourage women and young bakers into the profession,
Easy cleaning:
-    new designs with rounded shapes to minimise hard-to-access corners,
-    easier, tool-free access (clips, hinged doors) for cleaning inside machines,
-    smooth stainless steel surfaces,
Comfort in the workplace:
-    silent motors,
-    intuitive, more accessible, luminous control pads,
-    customisable controls so that every parameter can be altered to suit the type of flour, recipe, dough, shape, etc.
-    remote maintenance and after-sales service through the use of integral modems on machines,
-    faster handling with electronic temperature regulation,
-    units combining safety (no sharp edges) and practicality (cleaning, storage),
Multifunctional equipment:
-    speed controls for kneaders for use with all types of dough,
-    manual and automatic modes available,
-    plenty of accessories to develop systems and produce different shaped products,
-    bread slicers that automatically slice any type of bread according to its consistency, then gather the slices together,
-    French-style slashes with various scarification equipment that combines safety and practicality with improved ergonomics,
For the environment:
-    improved energy performance with oil and gas fixed deck ovens that save up to 8% energy over previous models,
-    eco-friendly machines to wash silicone products with low water and electricity consumption,
-    redesigned non-stick cooking utensils.


The European Eu-Freshbake programme produces a guide

The European Eu-Freshbake programme will conclude at the end of November 2009, having involved 12 research and industrial organisations. Focusing on frozen pre-cooked and raw-dough loaves, this project is aimed at improving industrial practice in terms of energy consumption while making use of refrigeration to improve the availability and freshness of breads with optimal nutritional and organoleptic qualities. “All the energy and quality aspects of bread-making will be brought together in a good practice guide for delayed cooking technologies, initially in English as of March 2009, available from the project's official website. Bread-makers will have at their fingertips a comprehensive bibliographical review and a series of recommendations based on observations,” says Alain Le Bail, Scientific Director at ENITIAA and the programme co-ordinator. There will also be a section on energy issues related to the baking and freezing of bread.
To find out more :
•    Website: http://eu-freshbake.eu/eufreshbake/index_francais.php