Bakeries come in all sizes, from large-scale wholesale operation to your neighbourhood shops. Bakers and kitchen helpers are some of the bakeries most significant employees, as they assist in the production of baked goods and pastries.

Ideally, a bakery will have one or two experienced and trained bakers, but it is mandatory for anyone involved in food preparation to be certified in food safety. Usually, bakeries will have fresh bread on their racks first thing in the morning. So, the workhorse of any bakery is their commercial oven since it has the longest cycle time and is used to produce various baked products.

Bakery ovens use different energy generation sources which include gas and electricity. These ovens bake through conduction, convection, and radiation. Therefore, conditions such as humidity, heat flux, and temperature must be optimised, in order to conduct its baking process.

There are several types of bakery ovens and these will include the following:

• Indirect-fired oven

These oven uses exchangers and is suitable for sensitive bakery products like pastries and cakes. The most significant feature of this oven its ability to trap the combustion inside the heat exchanger structure, eliminating the risk of contamination and off-odours in baked products.

• Direct-fired oven

This type of oven uses combusting gas as its energy source and it traps the heat inside the baking chamber. The heat then transfers into a direct gas-fired oven, which produces radiation from the flames located on the top, base, and walls of the baking chamber. This is the most cost-effective type of bakery oven.

• Electric oven

Electric ovens are comparatively similar to direct-fire ovens, since they use the same heat transfer mechanism. However, they rely on electrical resistance unlike traditional gas burners. Although bakeries do not widely use electric-fired ovens due to their power consumption and costs per kWh, they can be used for small-scale projects like baking cakes and tarts. Electric ovens can bake these products much faster than their counterparts.

How to maintain bakery ovens?

As a bakery owner, you understand that your oven is an important part of your business since any broken or malfunctioning oven can bring your business to a standstill. That is why it’s essential to maintain your oven effectively. This includes the following:

• Preventive maintenance – this is a planned sequence of inspections that is conducted by a reliable oven repairs company like QLD Oven Repairs Brisbane. These oven specialists will do minor repairs as well as replace worn out parts to avoid equipment failure.
• Corrective maintenance – this is another scheduled intervention focused on repairing malfunctioning and broken ovens in order to restore them to proper working condition.
• Reactive maintenance – these are unscheduled interventions carried out by a professional oven repairs company and is done to repair or replace a broken part. You’ll only resort to this type of maintenance when there is an unexpected breakdown of your equipment.

Overall, it is essential to keep your bakery oven in Brisbane in optimal condition, but you can’t maintain this equipment alone, so we recommend that you get in touch with an oven repair specialist that can help you keep your oven in working order.