As the baking processes and steps differ for each category of baked products, we find that understanding the process is a key way to decide the tools and equipment you may want to start your business with, to save time, to improve your products and even to diversify your product range.

With a better understanding of the ingredients used in pastry making, we now look at the basic equipment and tools needed.

Now let’s look at a pastry making kitchen. In simple terms, the process in pastry making can be split into these main steps: weigh, mix; rest, roll, cut, bake, and cool.

The first step is Weighing. Similarly to bread making, scaling the right ingredients accurately is crucial.

It helps produce a good quality product that is consistent with each production.

This is done by using a weighing scale to carefully scale the ingredients.

The second step is the Mixing.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment creates a flaky crust for pastries as the fat is less likely to melt when compared to using your hands.

The paddle attachment helps to distribute the ingredients uniformly and creates a light and fluffy mixture.

It does so by creaming the fat and sugar without whipping too much air into it.

The size of the mixer depends on the capacity amount of your production.

The next step is Resting, Rolling and Cutting.

To prevent the layers breaking down, give sufficient rest between folds to allow the gluten to relax.

Both the butter and dough should be kept chilled at all times, and the lamination is rested to allow the gluten to relax between rollouts.

The dough must be cut with a sharp pastry knife to prevent the layers from being squished.

Depends on the type of pastries, using proper cutting tools, tart pans, tart rings to shape and size the dough.

Dough Sheeter.

Rolling out dough by hand is time consuming and causes the fat to melt easily.

A dough sheeter can standardize the process and save a lot of time.

Then it is ready for Baking. Convection oven is a good choice for pastry making, as the capacity of convection is bigger compared to a deck oven when it comes to baking pastries.

Convection ovens have fans that circulate pre-heated air around the baking chamber. This creates uniform heat distribution that eliminates cold or hot spots. Food comes out cooked evenly in a convection oven.

For maximum lift, the rapid generation of steam in the pastry is essential.

A low temperature will delay crust colour formation and the filling will reach bubbling temperature.

Puff pastry requires a hot oven (220 °C).

Plain pastries can be baked in a hot oven but those which are topped with sugar and nuts should be baked at a lower temperature (200 °C).

Fruit Pies should be baked in a hot oven between 200 – 210 ºC. This allows the crust to colour quickly to avoid boiling the fruit filling.

A non-stick coated tray is recommended for baking pastry to save time and cost of disposable parchment papers.

The pastry kitchen is usually maintained at around 24 °C or below 26 °C, to prevent the fat in pastries from melting.

In conclusion, to create the best pastry products, be sure to outfit your kitchen with the basic pastry equipment and tools needed.

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