Sometimes there are seemingly obvious tips and tricks that we know about baking and pastry equipment that might be really helpful for others. I know when I was developing a brand new baking and pastry arts class, I knew nothing about commercial baking and every tip and “obvious fact” was hard to come by. So here is a list I’d like you all to contribute to so we can make it easier for new teachers.
A 20 quart mixer will mix 20lbs of dough; however a regular 5-6 qt Kitchen Aid mixer will only mix 2-3 lbs of dough.
- If you use the really big mixer with a small recipe of dough it might not mix well because the first couple rotations of the beater will stick the mixture to the sides of the bowl and the beater will spin in the middle without touching the dough.
- Wooden work benches are great for baking and pastry classes for rolling out dough.
- Convection ovens cook at a lower temperature for instance things like breads and cookies that would normally be baked at 350F would be baked at 300F in a convection oven saving energy.
- Using a proof box takes about 1/2 hour for the first batch which is half the time of a normal rising without this piece of equipment.
- Dough scrapers are these seemingly non essential pieces of equipment that really come in handy when getting dough off of the counter or cutting dough into equal pieces.
Have a tip you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments below!
