Running a bakery is as enjoyable as it is a laborious type of business. You can serve warm loaves, various flavorful pastries, muffins, and pies in your bakery shop and become customers’ favorite with your specialty recipes. Using the right bakery shop equipment, you can easily start your business or take a step forward by renewing them.
If you have the idea to start a bakery shop business, there are many necessary bakery supplies. But these seven must-have bakery equipment is the essentials that will handle most of the job. We have prepared a list of bakery materials you should have when starting your business or give priority when beginning to renew.
1. Commercial Mixer
Commercial mixers are one of the most used bakery shop equipment that prepares large quantities of dough, batter, icing, or sauces. They consist of a mixing bowl, a mixing arm, and a rotating engine, or the bowl rotates depending on the type. There are two types of commercial mixers: commercial dough mixers and planetary mixers.
- Commercial dough mixers have a rotating bowl and stationary hooks to provide consistent dough. The dough hooks in the arm knead and aerate the dough. Commercial dough mixers are available in various sizes and capacities, with larger models capable of mixing dough for hundreds of loaves of bread at once.
The mixer’s speed and the type of hook used can be adjusted to produce various types of dough. Compared to manual mixing methods, a commercial dough mixer provides consistent mixing results, reduced mixing time, and improved dough quality.
- Planetary mixers consist of a stationary mixing bowl and a rotating agitator. The agitator rotates on its axis while also moving around the bowl, creating a “planetary” motion, which provides evenly mixed results. The mixer mostly comes with various interchangeable attachments for mixing different products, demonstrating the mixer’s versatility.
2. Food Prep Table
Another must-have bakery equipment is a commercial food prep table used for food preparation activities in commercial kitchens. In a bakery, you can prepare the dough and decorate your cakes or muffins using the ones with sections to put the garnishes. It typically has a stainless steel flat top surface with lower shelves or drawers for storing ingredients and kitchen supplies. The surface is frequently refrigerated to keep ingredients fresh and cool, and the table is built to be easy to clean and durable enough to withstand heavy use.
3. Holding And Proofing Cabinet
For perfectly puffed bread loaves or pastries, the proofing process is essential. Thus, a commercial proofing cabinet is in our must-have bakery equipment used in commercial kitchens to allow the dough to rise. It’s essentially a large, temperature- and humidity-controlled cabinet that provides a warm, moist environment for the dough to rise. This cabinet ensures the dough rises evenly and consistently and maintains the temperature and moisture levels required for optimal proofing.
4. Dough Divider and Sheeter
A dough divider is a must-have bakery equipment because it divides dough into equal portions to make individual loaves of bread, rolls, buns, and other baked goods. It usually consists of a hopper for the bulk dough and a set of blades or disks for cutting it into equal pieces. Changing the blades or disks can adjust the size of the portions. The dough divider compresses and cuts the dough into desired size and shape pieces. It saves your time and provides perfectly round and equal amounts of dough.
In contrast, a dough sheeter is a machine that flattens and shapes dough. It works by putting the dough through rollers that compress and stretch it to a uniform thickness. The rollers can be adjusted to control the thickness of the dough, and the dough sheeter can shape the dough into various shapes such as rounds, squares, or rectangles. In commercial kitchens, dough sheeters are commonly used to produce consistent, uniform pieces of dough for baking.
The dough divider and dough sheeter are both must-have bakery equipment designed to improve the efficiency and consistency of dough preparation in commercial kitchens, allowing for faster and more precise baking.
5. Convection Oven
An oven is essential must-have bakery equipment to bake the goods to perfection. Commercial ovens are large-scale ovens designed specifically for commercial use in food service businesses. They are usually larger and more powerful than home ovens and are designed to withstand a commercial bakery’s high volume and frequent use. You can use different types, such as convection ovens, deck ovens, and rotating rack ovens, to bake loaves of bread, cakes, pastries, and other baked goods, but we put convection ovens in our list since they are versatile and more commonly used in bakeries.
Convection ovens are the other type of oven for a bakery shop that provides accurate results in baking. A commercial convection oven bakes by using a heating element and a fan at the same time. The fan circulates hot air throughout the baking chamber to provide more evenly distributed heat. The circulating hot air cooks the food evenly and helps to keep the temperature consistent throughout the cooking process. This reduces cold spots and uneven cooking, resulting in a more uniform product.
6. Reach-in Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a crucial step in any food service business. We know that bakery businesses need various refrigeration equipment, but reach-ins are prioritized in our must-have bakery equipment.
A reach-in refrigerator will keep the products at safe temperatures in a commercial bakery kitchen. These refrigerations are called “reach-in” refrigerators because their interior is accessible by reaching in through an open door.
7. Display Case
A display case is a must-have bakery equipment used to showcase food products for customer selection and purchase. It is commonly used to showcase baked goods, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items in bakeries, cafes, and other food service establishments. Display cases are intended to keep food safe while also providing an appealing and eye-catching display to entice customers. Depending on the products you intend to sell, refrigerated and non-refrigerated styles are available.
A Short Summary of Must-Have Bakery Equipment
A bakery can be the most enjoyable food service business type, in which you can serve colorful cupcakes and artisanal bread and be a stopover in all neighborhoods. There are many pieces of equipment and tools to make it run. But, in the preparation phase, commercial mixers, dough dividers & sheeters, dough proofers, and prep tables; for storage, reach-ins; in the cooking phase, convection ovens; and for presentation display cases are must-have bakery equipment and the key component that makes a bakery a bakery. You can easily start to set up your bakery after having this must-have bakery shop equipment and let your baked goods waft delicious smells all over the streets.
If you want to know other needed equipment for bakeries, you may also look at our blog post about bakery equipment list in 4 main categories.
