Equipment with someone else's money

Submitted by wombatq on November 23, 2008 - 9:01pm

Equipment with someone else's money

Hey there everyone,

Well, it happened, Ive been told to get my wish list together. The owners of the restaurant where I work have told me we are going to start bread production for inside use and some limited pastry/other goody making. I've got a pretty good list going of stuff I will need to add to what I have.

The Assets:
Some workspace, standard full and half pans, reasonable scale and a 15lb flour balance. Most of the general purpose tools (spats, scrapers, dockers, etc) Plenty of measuring/scaling tools, 2 6qt Kitchen Aid mixers and a 30# Hobart (which I have to share with the rest of the kitchen, and usually THEY get prioirity).

The liabilities
No dedeicated bakingspace, timing will need to be worked out and lots of little fiddly issues.

The list:
Extra speed racks
Proper proof box
Locking storage for tools.
Rolling bins for dry storage
Misc muffin, bread and other pans
Finished product storage (bags and sundries)
Digital Thermometer

I could go on and on until the back room looks like the bakeshop at school did, but that won't help.

What, apart from what I have listed, are the ten or so things I need that I am simply forgetting? (And no, I cannot have a large axe to threaten whichevwer of the prep cooks or dishwashers through out my s-dough starter!)

Thanks, Marc the Wombatq

Filed under:

Baking Equipment

Submitted by sheffield on November 24, 2008 - 5:22am.

Avatar

Marc:

I like your avatar. Been drinking Vernor's since the early 60's when I was stationed in Detroit. It seems to taste differently now then it used to.

Submitted by dougal on November 24, 2008 - 8:09am.

Oven? :-)

Marc/Wombatq, I didn't see any mention of your oven... that would be where you'd likely want to get specialised for baking... maybe some stone at least?

If your proofer can also function for you as a retarder, that might give you much better flexibility in fitting into the kitchen schedule. And help avoid late nights/early mornings for you.

Pastry? Many pastrycooks love to work on a bit of marble...

Fermenting dough. Some nice stackable, lidded plastic boxes would be convenient, and minimise the space you have to steal from others.

Need any bannetons, couche materials, special loaf tins, slashing scalpels, peel, mesh bread cooling racks/baskets... ?? If stuff is likely to be delivered in quantity, remember to think of transport and suitable packing. Do you have enough 'holding space' for short-term product storage?

For restaurant trade, are you going to parbake?

Submitted by wombatq on November 25, 2008 - 8:12pm.

Oven- I'll be sharing the

Oven- I'll be sharing the convections and the units under the ranges. Today was a case in point while sharing is "fun". While I was mixing banana muffins, the line guys were smoking duck breasts in the convec. They had turned it up to 550. I come along and didn't even bother to check. The muffins are now part of a very nice bread pudding.

Proofer- it's supposed to be coming when the basement is finished. I will then have my own room. I'm still trying to figure out how I can tap into the beer lines so I have a ready access to supplies to bake with.

Marble- the slab is in the basement! It's 36x60 and was a monster getting down the stairs. It needs supports, but I'm looking into that.

Right now, all my stuff is either locked up in a rolling tool chest or in the giant (52 gal) cooler I use for stuff.

Parbake- did it tonight. Roasted potato torpdeos for Friday night's VIP party. Half done and in the freezer now. Glad to know I wasn't thinking that night help.

I did get the line cooks a little jealous when I walked through the kitchen with a full sheet tray of cinn buns. Most of them have never baked, and those that have are worried about my use of levain and "Fred", my great big stinky starter.

Submitted by nbicomputers on November 24, 2008 - 9:07am.