Now that you are thinking about opening your first bakery shop, you’ll need a list of essential equipment. Whether you are baking cakes or making ice creams, the equipments play a big role in bringing out the best quality in your bakery product.
However, it’s important to know which equipment does what for you. Then, it’s all about getting the right equipment for the right purpose.
So, were you you were looking for a bakery equipment checklist? Worry no, that’s exactly what we have here for you.
Remember: you can go for both used and new equipment based on your budget and needs. Even the equipment used does as good a job as the new ones as long as it is of the right quality.
Bakery Equipment Checklist: Ready Your Bakery Farm Today
Here is a list of items you need to invest in if you are thinking of starting a bakery shop in the U.S. –
| Bakery Equipment | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Bakery Oven | $2999 – $12000 ( based on oven types) |
| Mixer | $2700 – $5000 |
| Cookie Machine | $60 – $100 |
| Dough Sheeter | $600 |
| Bagel Equipments | $300 – $500 |
| Bakery Slicer | $240 – $23,880 |
| Bakery Proofer | $110 – $5,684 |
| Cooling Racks | $500 – $1200 |
| Commercial Refrigerator | $600 – $2600 |
| Cake Decorating Tools | $30 – $100 |
1.Ovens
The Oven is the most important bakery equipment that your kitchen needs. Why is it important? Because the quality, the type, and the way your Oven helps bake a cake affect the quality of your product.
We’ve listed five different types of baking ovens for your bakery. Here, check them out –
Convection oven: If you are looking for multipurpose oven for different baking needs, then a convection oven will do the job. It has a hot air system that lets you control the baking temperature and keep it constant throughout the baking Journey. You won’t have to worry about overcooking your raw materials and leaving lots of baking waste in the trashcan.
Rotary Oven: For baking big pieces of cakes and and for baking them fast, the rotary ovens are good enough. Thanks to the multi-tray rotating cart, it easily bakes all the sides of a cake and bakes it fast.
Deck Oven: here’s a baking oven that’s versatile and helps you with multiple types of baking needs at the same time. You save time thanks to this Oven being equipped with different baking chambers that bake raw materials at different temperatures.
Proofing ovens: a common baking oven that’s equally popular in restaurants, confectionaries, and bakeries around the country. Proofing ovens have two chambers. One for fermenting, and the other one for baking cakes evenly.
Conventional Ovens: A generation-long kitchen staple, conventional ovens work by using temperature from one source and transferring it to the different parts of the bakery. This type of baking oven doesn’t distribute the temperature evenly to different parts of the bakery.
Found in both house kitchens and in the baking industry – these baking ovens can help bake different amounts of cakes. However, the housing space inside determines the amount that these ovens can bake.
2. Mixers
Efficient mixing and blending equipment are what make your baking successful. You need a mixer that you can rely on. The dough needs to have a consistent texture, and the batter must be perfect. That’s where good mixing bakery equipment helps you out. Good mixing equipment helps ensure uniformity of texture and helps save your time and effort in the process.
Mixing Devices: Both automated and manual kneading and mixing devices are available on the market. These are for mixing both dry and wet ingredients. Some also help store and knead the dough.
Electric Mixers: Electric mixers are great. Especially when you are baking large amounts of products, an electric mixer automates many parts of the baking process. You can use them to bake wet ingredients like whisking the eggs. With the dough hook attached, it’s also possible to knead the dough.
They come in two types – handed electric mixtures and stand electric mixtures.
Mixing Tools: Leave some personal touch on your baked items by preparing totally handmade cakes. For that, you’ll need mixing spoons, mixing bowl, mixing whisks, mixing spatula, etc. These are some crucial bakery equipment and tools you need in your kitchen.
These tools are made of different materials like wood, plastic, and porcelain and are of different types. You can choose both types and materials as per your needs and budget.
With these tools at your disposal, you’ll have the right speed and efficiency to bake the cakes you want.
3. Cookie Machines
Aside from cakes, if you are also baking cookies, you can go for a cookie machine to automate your cookie-making process. But what type of cookie-making machine is the right fit for you? Consider these features before you finalize a cookie machine for purchase.
You can use a cookie depositor and automate production, cutting down labor costs in the process. Use wire-cut models to make cookies of different shapes, sizes, and designs. Rotary modules are good for high-volume biscuit production.
Yes, more features might just cost you more money. But they are worth it if you are looking at long-term savings. If you are just starting out, you can use the smaller ones that cost under $100.
Do consider a supplier who provides good customer service. With a cookie machine in the kitchen maintenance and troubleshooting becomes your regular thing. Also, the machines should comply with local food guidelines and regulations given the fact that you are investing for a long term. So, do your research before paying money for the wrong product.
4. Dough Dividers/Rounders, Sheeters, Moulder
A dough divider, sheeter, and molder is a machine for dividing, sheeting, and rolling varieties of dough.
Dough sheeters flatten the dough into a thin sheet of dough. You get the proper thickness and consistency for a pizza dough or one for a cookie. The dividers divide the dough into required pieces of dough. The molder can take it forward by giving the dough a distinct shape and size as required.
These machines are used to divide round, pre-weighed amounts of dough into smaller, equally weighted pieces. These machines let you automate the process of baking bread in your bakery.
Bakery owners can get machines that do all these tasks separately. But you can also invest in machines that combine all these aspects of baking bread or a cookie and get it done as a multipurpose machine. If you are providing different product lines straight from your home bakery, this is one of those bakery equipment you can’t say no to.
5. Bagel Equipment
Some bakery equipment might not be necessary unless you are making them. If you are not making bagels at your bakery shop, you don’t need bagel equipment. Some key pieces of bagel equipment are necessary when you are making bagels.
Some tools and equipment needed for bagel making include –
A spiral mixer: the process of making bagels starts with a spiral mixer mixing the dough. It ensures the thorough mixing of the bagels and the consistency of the dough.
Bagel divider & former: This tool is used to shape the bagels. This machine can produce almost 3600 bagels in an hour.
Bagel Kettle & Hood: Many bakers prefer the traditional boil-and-bake method. The Bagel kettle and hood follow the traditional method for baking bagels. This results in the bagels having chewy crusts and a soft inner portion.
You will need proofing suppliers, ovens, dividers, sheeters, and molders. However, these tools are not bagel-specific. You can use the dividers, sheeter, and molder machine that you already have for bagels as well.
6. Bakery Slicers
A slicer is the most handy tool bakers must have. You can go for manual slicing or automated bakery equipments as per your business requirements. Whether baking cakes or bread, a slicer is required to slice similar sized pieces. This tool brings efficiency to your craft and production. Yes, you will save both time and effort since you won’t be slicing bread manually.
No matter which bread-based slices you are cutting, the bread slicers let you slice bread as per your thickness requirement. You can customize the settings to match your needs for slicing breads, sandwiches, toast, etc.
Bread slicers not only reduce the time needed for slicing pieces of bread but also make baking fun and creative.
7. Proofers & Retarders
Baking is a complicated process. You have to be able to control humidity and heat within a controlled environment to bake the best cookies and cakes. That’s where a proofer comes in. It does exactly the difficult task – which is controlling heat and humidity within the control environment.
A retarder can also cool down the temperature. The purpose behind controlling the heat, humidity, and cold is to support the yeast for fermenting the dough pieces.
Here’s why it’s important to have a proofer in the bakery kitchen –
Enhanced Yeast Activity: A well-rised bread is the fluffiest bread. To bake a well-rised bread, proper fermentation is important. Yeast activation helps with the fermentation by producing carbon dioxide, making the dough rise. This yeast activity requires a helping hand from the proofer.
Consistent Results: You cannot have one perfectly risen bread and the other one shrunk. A proofer creates the perfect condition for the dough, allowing the creation of a uniform batch of doughs that rise properly.
Accelerated Production: High-volume baking operations are difficult to carry out while keeping consistency in the quality of your baked items. A proofer helps with creating a humid condition that accelerates the fermentation process. This helps bake the best bread loaves in high volume while not giving up on the quality part.
There are two types of proofers –
- Steam Injection proofers
- Water Spraying proofers
Steam injection proofers use saturated steam at low pressure, boosting humidity within the controlled environment. There’s a heat exchanger helping control the heat. Steam injection lets you maintain the external surface moisture of your bread’s dough.
Water Spraying Proofers: the process of keeping the dough moist can also be done by spraying atomized water. That’s what the water spraying proofers do. Heat exchangers also help maintain the required temperature.
8.Cooling Racks
Cooling racks are the bakery equipment you cannot run your bakery kitchen without. This equipment helps you keep consistency across your baked goods by preventing overcooking. It allows the baked food to cool down evenly.
The rack provides the baked goods with an environment where it can release the extra moisture and air that would otherwise make them soggy. Thanks to the cooling practice, the baked goods can keep their fluffiness and texture at the same time. It’s important that you invest in a durable and heat-resistant cooling rack.
9.Commercial Refrigerator
Your bakery shop needs the right ingredients. But it’s not easy to keep them fresh for too long unless you are investing in a really good commercial refrigerator. This helps with consistent control of the temperature. You can keep the ingredients in optimal condition and bake them whenever you want.
Some baking ingredients are perishable and need a longer shelf life, which only a commercial refrigerator can provide.
Also, commercial-grade refrigerators have ample space and adjustable shelves. You can organize your ingredients to enhance the safety and quality of the baked items.
10. Cake Decorating Tools
Be it a wedding cake or a birthday cake, it needs quality decorating. Yes, you need the right craftsmanship to decorate the most beautiful cake. But you can’t do all that without the right ingredients and, most importantly, the tools. The right tool can help you decorate the cake the way you want. You need to get the decorations right to attract your customers.
It’s necessary to invest in good-quality stencils and spatulas. Try to understand the type of cake you will decorate and the tools you need to do so. Once you add this equipment to your arsenal, you are ready to unleash your creativity and decorate the most beautiful cake with excellent design.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a professional baker or a home baker; cake decorating tools add a new flair to your kitchen. Most importantly, you can make a work of art out of your cakes.
Final Words
For all those bakery business owners or those planning to start fresh, the bakery equipment mentioned above is essential. If you are opening your bakery business and baking your own cake, you will need this equipment ready in your kitchen. So, set your budget accordingly and start gathering your bakery equipment.
Share your thoughts with us if you find this article helpful. Thank you for reading.
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