Moving up to a commercial spiral mixer...
Hi All,
I've been baking my sourdough for quite a while, and as with most hobbies of mine I've taken it a bit too far... We've decided to offer our sourdough through our farmgate on the Mornington Peninsula (Aus), which currently sells eggs veggies and preserves.
Anyway, part of the decision to up bread production was our fortunate acquisition of this 33L spiral mixer from an old pizza shop.
I was hoping some of you might be able to offer some tips for using a machine like this. I did a 10kg test batch yesterday and was encouraged by the results, the dough rose much quicker than usual, but I did find it quite difficult to clean, I'm thinking of spraying canola on the hook and bowl next time.
(Sorry for the photo orientation)
Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Simon
Hi Simon, the trick to easier quicker cleaning is to put some hot water in the bowl as soon as you have removed the dough and run a dish cloth around the bowl and under the fixed arm, its a whole lot easier when you get the time to clean up properly. I'm afraid spraying oil will be taken up in the dough.
So what is the make and is it just the single speed or two speeds. Now you have the mixing covered what is your oven capacity?
It looks like you are going to have a lot of fun with the new toy.
kindest regards Derek (Perth WA)
Congrats on the machine, looks like a great tool. I agree that washing within the first few minutes makes life easier, also a good dish detergent makes a difference. We alway wipe our bowls out with a solution of 200 ppm chlorine to sanitize, that way they will pass any random swab test.
Gerhard
I have an 18Kg capacity Fimar spiral mixer - single speed, fixed head....
Yes, cleaning is awkward, but what I do is when finished using it (I'll often put 2 or 3 different doughs through it) is to use a spray/mister thingy and spray the inside with cold water then leave it until I'm ready to clean it. Mine has a plastic lid, so the water doesn't evaporate too quickly in the warm bakehouse.
I had a plinth made up for mine with castors for easy movement - also makes it a bit higher which makes unloading into the bench easier. I unload in 4 main operations - a horizontal cut in-front of the dough breaker bar, then vertical each side of the spiral, then if I run it for a turn most of the dough will collect inside the spiral when I can just pull it out.
I've not tried really high hydration doughs in it yet, but I've just had an order for more ciabatta than I can do in my A200 comfortably...
Good luck with the market!
-Gordon
Thanks everyone for your responses :) Particularly the cleaning and unloading tips. I think building a dolly to have it raised up will be high on my priority list as my back is not amazing at the best of times!
The model is an OEM Bazzolo (spelling?) and it's single speed, they are made in italy and the original company still exists and seems to support spare parts, so hopefully that won't be an issue :)
I've also got a lead on a double bakbar turbofan commercial oven, and I use Mackies 3-up 500g loaf tins. Ideally I'd like to have a 30-loaf capacity, but as I'm doing this on the cheap it may take some time!
Thanks again for your help, and if you're ever down on the Mornington Peninsula (Aus), checkout Mossy Willow Farm (www.mossywillowfarm.com), hopefully I'll have the bread for sale in a few weeks once I've worked out the bugs :)
Cheers,
Simon