Baking & Snack - May 2009 - 32

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ᮣ With their shallow aluminum trays supported
by a permanent pan, strip danishes proof to
proper height before baking.
takes place in the proofer The exact
settings are programmed according to each style's needs and can be
changed with the press of a button,"
Mr. Kilian said.
The croissant lines' automatic
proofers have full temperature and
humidity control via PLC, governing their operation and enabling
data recording and alarms. Process
control is based on identification
of the key input variables and optimizes standard settings for each
product style along with control
limits management.
Line No. 2's tray proofer extends
the full height of the building, all
the way up to the ceiling 30 feet
above. "This is the largest unit we
could fit into the building," Mr.
Kilian observed.
BAKE AND PACK. The two Henry
Group direct-fired ovens operate by
PLC. Zones are configured so that
structure and volume set occurs in
the first zones, with moisture removal and, finally, coloring taking place
in the later zones.
As pans emerge in rows from the
ovens, they are oriented for depanning. Capway depanners gently separate the croissants from the pans,
lifting them onto conveyors leading
to the I.J. White spiral cooler on line
No. 1 and the G&F spiral cooler on
line No. 2. A Burford spray system is
engaged, according to variety, to apply a shine coating before they enter
the cooling spirals.
Empty pans automatically return
to the pan-loading section or into pan
storage. Starting with line No. 1, the
bakery installed a Stewart Systems automatic pan system using two stacker/
unstacker units. Line No. 2 added two
more such units. The pan system is
fully computerized to add and remove pans according to line flow and
product variety.
Croissants leave the cooler and

BAKING & SNACK / May 2009

travel into lanes that feed the bakery's LeMatic pillow-pack packaging system. Assembled in groups, the
croissants are sliced and bagged. The
whole pack then slides down a short
inclined conveyor into a waiting
basket-like tray. The line operator
stacks the baskets onto a dolly.
DYNAMIC INSTALLATION. Because of continuing heavy demand
for its croissants, the bakery had to
install line No. 2 while keeping the
older line in full operation. The
new proofer and oven proved particularly challenging, yet the bakery
was able to shoehorn the equipment
into the existing space. A temporary
wall separated the two lines to avoid
possible contamination.
Gold Standard went to Dunbar
Systems of Lemont, IL, for design,
layout and installation of its first
automated croissant line. Working
with the same firm, the Caparos
family laid out line No. 2 and purchased the proofer and oven before
the Arbor acqusition.
DANISH EXPERTISE. In a separate
part of the building, Gold Standard installed its danish line, which
managers described as "an older
assembly of Diosna and Rheon
equipment, an existing proofer and
a Baker Perkins oven." It currently
operates one 10-hour shift daily on
a 5-to-6-day schedule.

Because danish pastries use many
components - dough, filling, glaze,
streusel and other toppings - Gold
Standard laid out this line with
several stations with stand-alone
sigma-arm mixers and other processing equipment.
Doughs move to the Rheon
sheeting, laminating and makeup
line. The line's extruder creates a
tube of dough, with the shortening (butter, margarine or blended
shortenings) pumped into the
tube's center. The tube is flattened
by a multiple-roller station to create a continuous sheet and then
lapped to laminate it.
After a final reduction stage, the
filling is pumped onto the sheet, and
the dough is folded over it. Next, the
dough is flattened slightly and runs
through a guillotine cutter. The cut
strips go through a twisting machine
of proprietary design. The twister
drops the strips into shallow aluminum foil trays, and line operators
manually align the strips. The aluminum trays are carried by permanent
pans that stabilize them through the
proofing and baking process.
Pans are racked manually and
pushed into a first-in, first-out rack
proofer. After proofing, operators
pull the pans from the rack and place
them onto a conveyor to pass under
the streusel topper as needed. Pans
are grouped and loaded into the tunnel oven. After baking, the pastries

Baking & Snack - May 2009

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