Am opening a 2nd location and thinking of going with sheet pans covered with saran wrap instead of dough trays
I’ll be using a VCM for the dough. What are pros and cons?
having used both, I prefer dough trays vrs sheet pans - CiCi’s uses pans - takes 2 runs of saran wrap to cover - if ya need to buy some dough trays, let me know, as I have obtained some extras
Why use plastic wrap? They make bags that just slip over the pan.
Sheet pans take up a whole lot less room. I considered trying the dough trays out at one point but just nixed the idea once I figured out how much extra space I would need.
VCM’s tend to give you a tougher dough. Have one and used it for dough a few months – went back to the hobart.
I would figure dough would dry out quicker just using a body bag & not wrapping them…for a volume operation, you’ll still need several speed racks, negating the space savings…I’ve got over 150+ dough trays - only take up a small amt of cooler space
How do you figure? Body bag?
Not sure what you mean here.
any rack cover (bidy bag) will not be air tight - I believe even if you oil the DB, it’ll dry out - but I don’t oil my DB - you’ll get maybe 20 sheet pans on a rack (big DB & proofing? I can stack dough boxes 20/25 high if needed - I make my dough 2 days in advance as well - would surely dry out by the time I’m ready for it…
I didn’t say “rack covers”. There are plastic bags especially fit to put the sheet pans in (each). They are basically trash bags only made especially for a snug fit – disposable. We do not oil our balls either and they do not dry out.
True you could continue to stack dough boxes to the ceiling (if you have tall workers) but that is the only advantage in regards to space.
Empty sheet pans take up little storage room as opposed to dough boxes. Easier/faster to clean as well.
We have a small walk-in and thus do not have the room to cross stack dough boxes or shuffle them around to rotate.
I’m not discounting dough boxes in regards to how effective they are only in that you need more space to work with them.
With the dough boxes, you wil put the dough balls into the boxes, oil them, and cross stack them in the cooler for 2-hours, then down stack and nest them. With the sheet pans, you will lightly flour the sheet pans, place the dough balls onto the pans, and place them on racks in the cooler (uncovered) for 2-hours, then you will wrap in Saran (a parasitic cost) or you can slip each pan of dough into a plastic bag, sized just for this application. You will probably be able to reuse the bags several times to help defray their cost. In both cases, with sheet pans, you will need to have an extra rack outside of the cooler to place the pans of dough on for tempering at room temperature prior to use. Two hours tempering is about right. If you opt not to allow the dough to temper, get ready to use your bubble popper. Pans and racks are cheaper than dough boxes, but in the long run, they will be cheaper as they are self nesting and don’t require plastic wrap or bags to cover them with, and they also don’t need a rack as they can be stacked one on top of another.
That’s the down’n dirty between pans and dough boxes.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
I switched from dough boxes/trays to sheet pans a few years ago and have never regretted it. We used dough trays for about 10 years and have used the sheet pans for about 3 now. We can squeeze more dough onto a sheet pan, more dough onto the rack - roughly about 50% more dough in the same vertical space.
We no longer need to cross stack the dough as we did with the trays as the air is able to circulate between the pans on the rack and we don’t need to oil or water spray the doughballs as the moisture that created and trapped in the bag does the job of keeping them from drying out.
The sheet pans are harder to clean and the bun bags are an additional cost, but factor in the cheapness of the sheet pans, lifespan of the pan, saved space both when they are in use and out of use, drying space required, time spent cross stacking and spraying or oiling and it is well worth the expense and time.