August 20, 2021 - 1:43pm
How to scale and load 20+ qts of ingredients into a stand mixer
Hello,
I'm the bread baker at a cafe that is just opening up. We have a large stand mixer for me to use, and I'm tired of scaling my ingredients into a 12qt Cambro and then awkwardly dumping it into my stand mixer.
I can't seem to find the piece of equipment I'm after. I'd guess it's called a "boat" but essentially it's a large apparatus that can hold up to 10kg of materials for scaling, but also has tapered sides that make it easy to pour into a mixing bowl.
Does this device exist / have a name? What are y'all using to scale and dump with? I'm used to using much larger spiral mixers, so now my target is much more narrow.
Thanks for the input!
-Max the Bread Baker
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with a capacity that you can weigh the ingredients in the mixer bowl. You don’t need anything super accurate if you are weighing 10kg of flour as 10 grams one way or the other isn’t going to make a world of difference. Then weigh the water in a pail and the ingredients like salt, yeast etc. on a smaller more accurate scale. I think shipping/postal scale of larger capacity are available at reasonable price and give the required accuracy.
Ah, I don't think I articulated my question properly.
I have a platform scale. I put my Cambro on the scale, and scale my ingredients accordingly, then I pour it into my mixing bowl.
The only issue is my square container doesn't pour nicely into my mixing bowl! I'm trying to not make a mess. I think an ingredient chute isn't the right move either, I'd rather scale into a container that has tapered sides - like a Cambro with chutes for walls.
Thanks for the response though !
from the mixer? If so why do you need to weigh flour in a second container? In my experience the less often flour is transferred from one container to another the less the resulting mess.
1. does it make a difference if you pour from the container orienting it like this: 🔸
versus like this: 🟧 ?
2. If the container has a lid, can you cut a large-ish hole in it to help direct the outflow?
Can't scale it in the mixing bowl as it weighs probably 30+lbs.
And I typically try to pour it out the corner of my Cambro, I think the lid with a hole wouldn't work so well.
I feel like there's a piece of equipment specifically for this. It's shaped like a boat and pours easy. No one can seem to figure out what they're called or where to buy one. I'm not sure if they even come large enough for the volume I'm using.
Have you checked the bakery supply houses such as:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bakery+equipment+supply
If you can't find it in a search, use the company's contact form.
larger than used for personal consumption is close to 25 years ago but we use to get flour in either 20 kg bags or 40 kg bags and if we were making a dough that used close to the contents of a flour bag we would either remove the amount from the bag as required or pour a full bag in the mixer plus any additional flour needed. You could always keep a few empty flour bags and then scale the amount required into the bag. I find it easy to pour from a bag into a mixer bowl, if the batches are really small cut the bag shorter. The bags conform to the bowl so other than some dust it is a mess free operation.
You are probably looking for a baker's scale scoop
https://www.hubert.ca/product/10515?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI__-Mwe3J8gIVhcDICh3xSgO4EAQYBiABEgJwW_D_BwE
https://www.oldwillknottscales.com/scoops-and-bowls.html
Maybe you can find one with a scale attatchment for the hook but it would be easy just to swing it over the scales and pick up your bucket. (A bucket or boat for a hook should contain a loop in the handle to prevent the contents from tipping sideways sliding on the handle.)
If buying equipment is an option Savage Brothers out of Chicago area makes a bowl lift. I have one without the electrics, you have to manually crank it up but it has worked well for 20 years.
https://youtu.be/WvmcwFrTlV8
F4148693-7540-49FA-95CB-9FA64EEA4A09.jpeg
This is a photo of me and my manual lift truck