New laser system to speed up bakers’ volume tests

The Volscan Profiler is a laser-based instrument that can measure the volume of a typical loaf of bread in under 60 seconds.

It works by scanning baked goods, including cakes and baguettes, from top to bottom and the results are recorded and archived by the machines’ software.

It can also calculate the volume yield of the bread and data may be viewed in 2D or 3D, to allow visual comparisons with previous archived measurements.

Jo Smewing applications manager at Stable Micro Systems, (SMS), said: “Most manufacturers have a standard they like to work towards. ​

“Any time they look to change something in the process or in the formulation they assess the compromise that it will make on the final product.​

“If you add an ingredient such as an emulsifier or a flour you would want to make sure that the volume wouldn’t be compromised before you productionise it.”​

She said that volume is particularly important in the baking industry because, in terms of consumer perception, higher volume tends to be associated with a more aerated crumb and superior texture.

Test baking ​

SMS said that bread manufacturers must subject each batch of flour to test baking, to ensure that all bread is made to a uniformly high quality.

Insufficient loaf volume at the test stage indicates either very weak or very strong flour, or an imbalance of enzyme activity.

This information is used to modify the dough mix, so that the finished product can be properly handled by automatic slicing machines and packed into standard sized bags.

The profile, for use in off-line production tests, offers an alternative to more traditional methods of measuring dough volume, such as seed displacement.

This is where the amount of rape seed or pearl barley packed around the loaf in a standard container is measured.

However, Smewing said there are drawbacks to this method, which is a manual recording of results, as it is operator dependent and can crush a soft product.

She added that with the profiler, a 95 percent accuracy test of a standard loaf takes about 60 seconds. However, the time would change depending on the size of a product and the degree of accuracy required.

The target market is millers, bakeries, food ingredients suppliers and food research institutions or universities where it can be used for process control, quality assurance and R&D

SMS has a range of texture analysis fixtures for use in the bakery sector, including the Dobraszczyk Roberts dough inflation system and the Bread V Squeeze rig for bread springiness.