Artisan Baking at Scale

Increasing numbers of consumers are seeking out healthier and more ‘artisan-style’ alternatives to their everyday favorites in the baked goods aisle. ‘Artisan-style’ simply means baked goods that you might find in your local bakery: think of seeded buns, crusty sourdough, or knotted bread rolls. The popularity of this baking style grew during successive lockdowns when many bread and cake fans either took up baking again or rediscovered a fondness for traditional goods with local ingredients. This has led forward-thinking bakeries to pivot their operations to address this need for healthier and more distinctive products.

Many bakeries, however, are not set up to deal with this kind of production. Whether it’s sourdough, veg-based, or gluten-free, the higher moisture content and lower elasticity of doughs created with more traditional processes such as sourdough – or with alternative flour such as gluten-free – can prove problematic. Thankfully, AMF Bakery Systems offers customizable, precision solutions for expanding your artisan, and health-focused product lines.

Natural artisan ingredients, advanced bakery solutions

‘Artisan-style’ baking is all about products made with more ‘traditional’ processes with that ‘handmade’ feel. It’s also about using simpler ingredients to create products that are overall better for you. So, you’ll need the right equipment if you want to make your products both tempting and wholesome. Scaling up this kind of specialty bread production requires smart, adaptable production lines. AMF Bakery Systems has been a market innovator for over 100 years, so it’s no surprise that we’ve evolved our equipment to handle even the most unusual ingredients and forms of dough.

Take our AMF horizontal mixers for instance. With their proprietary DuraBowl® mixer bowl design, they eliminate cooling leakage to ensure the optimum mixing conditions, no matter what the dough’s consistency. This is especially important for ‘artisan-style’ dough such as sourdough and wholewheat because it does not behave in the same way as standard white dough. That means you may have to adapt your process as you introduce new kinds of flour mixes. To support you in this AMF’s mixers allow you to can monitor your products at every stage of the mix with our patented Dough Guardian technology – so you can seamlessly make precise adjustments in real-time.

Proofing can also prove a challenge when it comes to more complex dough structures, such as sourdough or gluten-free, so you’ll need the precise conditions to get that signature rise and artisan crust. AMF Bakery Systems has the solution for you with our range of step, spiral, and continuous proofing systems. They’ll fit into any bakery, and our precise monitoring solutions guarantee optimal results for sourdough, gluten-free, and even veg-based doughs.

Sometimes, ‘artisan-style’ bread dough can be extremely delicate, but with AMF’s advanced bakery technology, there’s no need to worry about the dough stretching or breaking elsewhere on the production line: our advanced extrusion tech takes care of the most delicate dough types, eliminating tearing, as well as reducing the need for cleaning the instruments. The same is true for our Tromp sheeting lines – they can easily be adjusted to meet the requirements of healthier and artisan doughs such as rye, wholemeal, and sourdough, with precision monitoring and real-time adjustments possible at every stage of the process.

‘Handmade’ results at scale

To help recreate that authentic, mouth-watering crust that consumers love in ‘artisan-style’ products, the AMF Den Boer range has just the oven you need. Our direct-fired stone floor ovens, for example, are experts when it comes to producing an ‘artisanal’ finish due to the unique burner control set-up and precision monitoring technology. They also feature automatic gap detection technology, which can prevent color differences on the edges of the product and provide a stable bake even when there are incidental production stoppages.

Finally, ‘Artisan-style’ baking is all about getting that ‘handmade’ effect, so don’t forget the presentation!  Our wide range of decoration equipment provides the finishing touches that make all the difference on the shelf, whether it’s water-splitting the crust with one of our DecoJet units, sprinkling on a wholesome selection of nuts and seeds with our efficient target seeders, or adding on an artisan-style glaze our liquid applicators. And with advanced topping recirculation systems available, there’s no need to worry about wasting a single seed or nut.

AMF: Holistic bakery solutions

Ensuring ‘artisan-style’ quality throughout such a complex production line is no easy task. With so many different operations going on at any one time, you need effective oversight you can count on. That’s where AMF’s Smart bakery management system – AMFConnect™ – comes in. With our next-generation system, you’ll have in-depth, real-time insights into every stage of your production line, giving you actionable information to ensure your products are consistently top-quality.

We all know that trends change, but the demand for ‘artisan-style’ bread products is set to keep growing in the coming years. If you want to learn more about how our top-quality, turnkey solutions can help you to enter this exciting market, don’t wait around! Simply make an appointment to visit the AMF Innovation Centre and we’ll let our advanced baking technology do the talking. We’ll also introduce you to our master baker team, who will talk through all your bakery needs. You can even receive testing and validation of your own products and recipes on our production line – so get in contact today!

Interested? Find out more about AMF Bakery Systems’ solutions for ‘artisan-style’ bread production and book your free consultation by contacting Lex Van Houten sales@amfbakery.com.