Bread Making:

Raw Materials

Bread is made with three basic ingredients: grain, water, and bakers' yeast. The
harvested grain is ground according to the type of bread being made. All grains are
composed of three parts: bran (the hard outer layer), germ
(the reproductive component), and endosperm (the soft inner core). All three parts are

ground together to make whole wheat and rye breads.

The grinding takes place at grain mills, which sell the grain to bakeries in bulk. The
bakeries keep the grains in storage sacks until they are ready to be used. In the baking
factory, water and yeast are mixed with the flour to make dough. Additional ingredients
such as salt, fat, sugar, honey, raisins and nuts are also added in the factory.

The Manufacturing Process

The sifted flour is poured into an industrial mixer. Temperature-controlled water is piped
into the mixer. This mixture is called "gluten" and gives bread its elasticity. A pre-
measured amount of yeast is added. The growth of the yeast produces gas bubbles,
which leaven the bread. Depending on the type of bread to be made, other ingredients
are also poured into the mixer.

The mixer is essentially an enclosed drum that rotates at speeds between 35 to 75

revolutions per minute. Inside the drum, mechanical arms knead the dough to the
desired consistency in a matter of seconds. The mixing process takes about 12
minutes.

Fermentation

Three methods are used to ferment the dough.

1. In some plants, the high-speed machinery is designed to manipulate the dough

at extreme speeds and with great force, which forces the yeast cells to rapidly
multiply.

2. Fermentation can also be induced by the addition of chemical additives such as

1-cysteine (a naturally occurring amino acid) and vitamin C.

3. Some breads are allowed to ferment naturally. In this instance, the dough is
placed in covered metal bowls and stored in a temperature-controlled room until
it rises.
Division and gas reproduction

After the dough has fermented, it is loaded into a divider with rotating blades that cut the
dough into pre-determined weights. A conveyer belt then moves the pieces of dough to
a molding machine. The molding machine shapes the dough into balls and drops them
onto a layered conveyer belt that is enclosed in a warm, humid cabinet called a "prover."
The dough moves slowly through the prover so that it may "rest," and so that the gas
reproduction may progress.

Molding and baking

When the dough emerges from the prover, it is conveyed to a second molding machine
which re-shapes the dough into loaves and drops them into pans. The pans travel to
another prover that is set at a high temperature and with a high level of humidity. Here
the dough regains the elasticity lost during fermentation and the resting period.
From the prover, the pans enter a tunnel oven. The temperature and speed are carefully
calculated so that when the loaves emerge from the tunnel, they are completely baked
and partially cooled. While inside the tunnel, the loaves are mechanically dumped from
the pans onto shelves. The baking and cooling process lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Slicing and packaging

The bread continues to cool as it moves from the oven to the slicing machine. Here
vertical serrated blades move up and down at great speeds, slicing the bread into
consistently sized pieces.

Metal plates hold the slices together while picking up each loaf and passing it to the
wrapping machine. Pre-printed plastic bags are mechanically slipped over each loaf. At
some bakeries, workers close the bags with wire twists. Other plants seal the bags with
heat.
References:

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Bread.html (2016)