Benchmark Technology

As this market grows and bakers strive to maintain the “craft” feel of these breads, they must consider their options to optimize products. Bread quality is an important consideration and embracing technology can help with that.

Benchmark technology can help a baker scale up production from a small oven to a larger more efficient one. It is a common method used by bakers to understand how their traditional smaller oven performs and how their baked product reacts to it. Once information like this is obtained, a baker can determine the perfect settings for their larger oven to perform exactly like their older smaller one.

So, instead of relying on observations such as bread color to get the right oven set up, rely on benchmark technology and thermal profiling. This profile is the data collected from the current baking process mapped out in the S Curve, or what is known as the relationship between the time spent in the oven and the moisture in the bread.

Thermal profiling solutions not only quantifies the baking process, but also analyzes and records it. Once this process is fingerprinted, it’s easy to transition to a large industrial oven and it eliminates the need for extra trial and error.

Investing in this technology comes with a huge payback. The consumer gets the same consistent product every time and the baker maintains an efficient and profitable business.

The Future

Consumers will always demand variety and want new products. The artisan bread market continues to satisfy their desires and gives us lots of new tasty products. As craft bakers continue to develop new items, profitability and ability to scale up becomes critical.