APV dough moulding head improves quality, cuts costs

The UK-based bakery equipment manufacturer has developed interfaces that allow it to install the head of its Multitex4 dough moulder onto most existing dough moulding machinery. "With the new head, bakers will be able to improve the quality of their bread. The sheeting process is carried out in a much more gentle way, reducing stress on the dough and resulting in greater volume and crumb softness," said APV marketing manager Keith Graham. The Multitex4 moulding head has four pairs of sheeting rollers that flatten out balls of dough into sheets, ready to be rolled and moulded. By increasing the number of rolls, APV claims to reduce stress on the dough. "The dough is handled more gently as there are more steps in the reduction of dough thickness. This reduces the pressure, which tends to damage dough structure, and in turn improves bread quality," Graham told BakeryAndSnacks.com. "What we have essentially done is reduced the damage that occurs in processing in order to allow bread to develop to its full potential," he added. The company claims that fitting the Multitex4 head to an existing dough moulder would increase bread volume by 10 per cent and crumb softness by 18 per cent. Additionally, the number of coils achieved when dough sheets are rolled would increase from between 3-4 to 4-5, which it claims improves bread quality and colour. And because higher bread softness is achieved, shelf life can be extended by at least one day, said Graham. The Multitex4, which was first launched as a complete dough moulder in the latter part of last year, claims to be the only machine on the market to achieve these results on a processing level. According to the company, the Multitex4 can be used to improve current bread quality, or to achieve similar results using a reduced level of bread improver ingredients, cutting costs. The company, which is this month marketing the equipment's retrofit ability worldwide, said the Multitex4 head can be fitted quickly and easily, with minimal engineering required. "For plant bakeries with existing machines that are not yet life expired, this provides a low-cost route to the premium quality market," said APV. External links to companies or organisations mentioned in thisstory: APV Baker