Dough quality issue
Hi baking experts,
I am looking for ways to improve the appearance of our sheeted sugar cookie dough that we run on our extruder. Some days the dough is very smooth with a great appearance but other days it doesn’t look as good and has an increase of blemishes or pock marks.
I have been unable to determine the source. It does get worse if the sheet thickness is too thin (low weights) or excess amounts of rework are used. Can this be improved by adjusting dough temperature, mix time, dough moisture or is it more of an equipment/ extrusion & sheeting issue?
Soliciting advice that we can try and implement, thanks!
It sounds like there is a difference in the mixing procedure that is causing more air to be incorporated on some days. Temperature control of ingredients may cause this, as well as, variation in mixing time due to inattention or other variation.
This is related to changes in dough absorption. Different lots of flour will require different amounts of water to arrive at the same dough consistency. There are ways to test the flour absorption requirement (farinograph test) but you can also feel the dough at the end of the mixing to determine its pliability. If it feels dry or tight - add more water. If wet or very soft - leave out some of the water.
Excess use of reworks is like adding moisture in your product. Use exact amount of rework in every dough. Also if the reworks are too old they can cause a problem. I use to work with the previous day reworks only.
Also it is very important to have the right time of mixing.
Excess mixing can cause problems as well as not mixing the dough good enough.
I think is a matter of the dough 100%.
Flour moisture content play a crucial role.
Next maybe is fresh dough mixing with 'old' dough.
Rgds
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