[Baking Artifact Observation] Dough Divider: How the "Transformers" in the Kitchen Conquered the Pastry Chef
"This machine cuts dough with more precision than a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder using a vernier caliper!"
Last week, when visiting the back kitchen of a popular bakery in Hangzhou, Chef Zhang pointed to the silver machine in operation with pride. I saw 15 kilograms of dough being "swallowed" by the machine, and in less than 3 minutes, 200 22g ± 0.3g dough pieces were spit out, as neat as the product of 3D printing. This is the secret weapon of modern bakery - the dough divider, an intelligent assistant that makes the master chef love and fear.
Today, let's take a look at what black technology is hidden in this "kitchen transformer" that subverts the traditional kneading table.
❶ From "different sizes" to "copy and paste"
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I still remember when I was a kid, I helped my mother make dumplings. There were always some dough balls that were particularly "rebellious" - the big ones could be used to make chive boxes, and the small ones were only enough to make wontons. Now, our dough splitter has solved this big problem:
• Accuracy comparable to that of a laboratory: through intelligent adjustment, 5-500 grams of dough can be switched at will, with an error of ≤1 gram.
• Speed crushes the master: 700 dough balls are processed per hour, 20 times faster than manual labor.
Boss Liu of a chain bun shop in Suzhou said: "Since using it, no customers have responded to 'buy three buns have two sizes', and the kitchen boy no longer has to secretly eat 'failed products' to fill his stomach."
❷ Not just cutting dough, but also a creative engine
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Do you think it can only cut round dough? Too naive! Our dough divider has unlocked hidden skills:
• Change molds: quickly change more than 20 molds such as moon, star, heart, etc.
• Cross-border players: glutinous rice cakes, taro balls, and plasticine toys can all be handled (don’t ask me how I know)
A parent-child bakery in Shanghai has even developed a "dough Lego" course, and the dinosaur-shaped steamed buns made by children using a divider have become popular. Sure enough, it is never technology that limits creativity!
❹ The "really fragrant" scene of the master
At first, Master Li, the 58-year-old inheritor of Su-style mooncakes, refused: "What does a machine know about hand feeling?" Until he saw it with his own eyes:
• At 3 a.m., the machine stably produced the 5,000th mooncake embryo
• Each dough contains the exact amount of oil required for 18 layers of puff pastry
Now his studio is hung with a banner: "The craftsmanship of man, the magic hand of machine", um, really fragrant!
The future is here: are you ready to take it?
Standing in front of the glass curtain wall of a smart factory, I suddenly remembered the close-up of Kimura Takuya kneading dough in "Grand Hotel Tokyo". From palm temperature to data code, from flying flour to aseptic workshop, what has changed is only the tool, and what remains unchanged is the eternal pursuit of human beings for the beauty of pasta.
Next time you bite into the fluffy bread, you might as well guess-is this perfect dough a masterpiece of machine or human hand?
Interactive topic: If you use a dough divider to create, what kind of pastry do you want to make the most? My list as follows, waiting for you to battle!
