Bakery Equipment Investments For Great Doughnuts
Launching your own bakery business is a great way to go into work for yourself and do something you enjoy, but if you really want to capitalize on rush hour customers, offering top-notch doughnuts is a great way to do just that. However, making the perfect doughnut isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. The good news is that you can improve the quality of your products and make a name for yourself by investing in the right equipment. Here are a few different pieces of equipment that can help you.
Automatic Proofing Machine
One of the things that makes doughnuts irresistable is the airy, soft texture that comes from a properly crafted recipe. To actually get that kind of texture in it, you have to have patience. The proofing process should be slow; that way you have plenty of time for the air to work into the dough.
Without the right equipment, this means starting your dough the day before so it can rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight. However, if you invest in an automatic proofing machine, you can place your cut doughnuts in the automatic proofer and get that proper rise within an hour or so after cutting. This will improve your turnaround time significantly.
Look for the cut doughnuts to be double the size at the end of the proofing process. You should be able to press your finger lightly into the doughnut and then watch the resulting indent spring back out of the dough slowly.
Doughnut Frying Machine
The perfect outside texture on a doughnut is dependent on a delicate balance of oil temperature and flipping the doughnuts at the right time. When the oil is not hot enough, the dough will actually absorb a lot of oil while the doughnuts are cooking. That can give the final product a greasy, oily texture. When the oil is excessively hot, it will cause the outside to overcook, making it too dark and too crispy before the middle cooks through completely.
When you buy a doughnut fryer, you'll be able to regulate the oil temperature more effectively. In addition, the doughnut fryer will actually move the doughnut through the oil and flip it for you, allowing you to be more hands-off in the process.
Glazing Table
When it comes to glazed and frosted doughnuts, it's time-consuming and exhausting to have to dip them by hand. You'd have to pay multiple staff members to do this, or plan well in advance each morning to have all of your doughnuts finished. This can be costly and impractical, especially as your business grows and your production quotas increase. After all, it's fairly easy to dip two dozen doughnuts, but when you're selling the equivalent of one hundred dozen doughnuts a day, that's far too many to try to coat by hand.
If you want to simplify your production process, you should invest in a glazing table. It will allow you to glaze and frost all of your doughnuts easily by pouring the glaze over the top and allowing it to drip into the catch trays below. If you buy an automated glaze sheeting machine, it will glaze them for you. But, that's often reserved for larger operations that have enough space for multiple machines so that you can use multiple glazes without having to change them out during your production process.
As you can see, there are definite ways to improve your production process and the quality of your doughnuts. With the right equipment investments and some practice to refine your recipes, you'll have doughnuts that are sure to put your bakery on the map when you open the doors. Talk with a commercial kitchen equipment contractor today to find out what kinds of machines will work for your needs, or check out websites like http://louiswohl.com to learn more.