Optimization of the Temperature Profile in Bread Baking

If your bread baking has experienced inconsistent product quality, optimization of the temperature profile may be the solution you’re looking for. You can count on the state-of-the-art Reading Thermal SCORPION® 2 Data Logger and our various sensors and sensor arrays to help you correct problems with your products and maintain optimal process control.

Reading Thermal, headquartered in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, has been focused on commercial baking process measurements for 25+ years. We manufacture and support the SCORPION® 2 Data Logger, a profiling system that has become a standard in the baking industry. This powerful diagnostic tool can help you understand and improve your proofing, baking, cooling, and freezing processes.

How Oven Temperature Affects Your Bread Products

If you produce bread, artisan bread, biscuits, rolls, hamburger buns, cakes, or other bread products, you know oven temperature is responsible for physical and chemical reactions in dough/batter, and that temperatures that are too low or too high during baking can lead to changes in fermentation and humidity levels.

Too little heat can result in color that is too light. It can also cause the product structure to be too compact because few air bubbles developed in the baking process. This can produce a heavy and unappealing loaf with a pale or soft crust.

Too much heat coming from one direction in the oven can cause the bottoms of the loaves to burn before the crusts brown properly. The surface color will typically be too dark and the product may rise unevenly, resulting in a lot of surface cracks.

Profiling of Bread & Bun Ovens

Unlike biscuit and cracker tunnel ovens where the SCORPION® 2 can ride on the conveyor, bread and bun ovens require a specialized carrier. Placement is critical in order to produce accurate and repeatable data collection. In addition, long bake times and the need to produce the Bake Cycle S-Curve led Reading Thermal to design a set of solutions just for the bread and bun baker:

Temp+Airflow Sensor Array: This sensor array simultaneously profiles temperature and airflow across the width of large tray and grid conveyor ovens. It consists of nine Temp+Airflow sensors that are spaced evenly across the length of an aluminum bar. The array is available in three sizes to match the most popular bread oven conveyor widths.

Pan+Dough Probe: This probe consists of a copper plate that is placed in the pan and remains fixed at the same single point as it travels through the oven. It simultaneously captures the pan/dough interface temperature and the dough core temperature. The Pan+Dough Probe provides accurate repeatable results unattainable with hand-placed thermocouples. It connects to the Temperature Interface device which can accommodate five dual probes.

Bake Cycle S-Curve Analysis: The Bake Cycle S-Curve Analysis optimizes the baking profile and provides the critical insight needed to make adjustments to ingredients, bake time, and zone temperature settings. SCORPION® Software Version 8 (SV8) automatically calculates the three key S-Curve data points: Yeast Kill, Gelatinization and Arrival.

The innovative SCORPION® 2 Temperature Sensor Array from Reading Thermal is essential for optimization of the temperature profile in bread baking. Contact us online or call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2 to explore our state-of-the-art sensors and sensor arrays.