The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Small Bakery Equipment Advice! Guidance Needed!

townsend's picture
townsend

Small Bakery Equipment Advice! Guidance Needed!

I'm upgrading from a cottage bakery to a small sized commercial bakery/cafe and need some serious equipment advice!

I need to use electric ovens in my new space, as there is no hood ventilation system. Also, it's part of a historic building and converting to phase 3 power is pretty much not an option (was quoted an insane number to do it). 

I've been eyeing the Estella and Avancini spiral mixers from Webstaurant, that both operate on 1 phase and seem decent enough. Anyone have any experience with them?

I desperately need an oven solution... Does anyone know of an electric deck oven that operates in single phase and has steam injection? I don't want to install a phase converter as it could potentially mess with the oven and generally seems like an unreliable solution. I'd go the Rofco route, but they are sold out for like the next year. Help and guidance would be greatly appreciated! 

Looking to bake 70-90% hydration country loafs, baguettes, and sandwich breads.

A HUGE preemptive thank you!

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

How many pounds of dough, and how many loaves per day?

From what I see on TFL, some small bake shops choose inexpensive single deck pizza ovens, and just don't use the upper element.  Or just use the upper heat element for the first half of the pre-heat.

townsend's picture
townsend

Sorry! Should have clarified this in the post...

Per Day Roughly:

20-50x Country Batards (850g)

20-35x Demi Baguettes

10-15x Whole Wheat Sandwich Loafs, baked in pullman tins

Busy days: roughly 141 lbs of dough, slow days: roughly 61 lbs of dough

 

I've been looking into pizza decks but need to reliably be able to generate and trap steam... A lot of the pizza decks are vented and don't have steam hook ups.

Thanks!

gerhard's picture
gerhard

you should consider a ventilation system to get the steam out. When a fairly large oven is opened a lot of steam enters the work space, without ventilation it is going to condense on any surface cooler than ambient air. Windows, stainless steel work surface, the floor will all be damp.

townsend's picture
townsend

It's a pretty big room we are baking in, but I'll look into ventilation for steam. Thanks for the advice.

G. Marie's picture
G. Marie

I would strongly suggest joining the Bread Bakers Guild of America www.bbga.org. Not only are there formulas and other information but also a message board that lets you reach out to other bakers and search through old messages. There are many bakers/micro bakers that are very helpful. There are also classes for an additional cost. Normally they are held in person at King Arthur back east or Central Milling in Petaluma (for examples) but are via video right now. 

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

You might want to look at Moffat Turbofans  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38840/any-advice-moffat-turbofan-owners   they offer a number of models, and some come with steam injection.