Technical tips to preserve the highest quality of bread and pastry products in summer
Summer is now just around the corner. The summer period not only brings with it an immense desire to have your cake and eat it too (in all senses of the expression) but also the by-now-classic high temperatures. And they affect practically all aspects of life.
Drinking plenty of water or fluids without waiting until you’re thirsty, staying in cool places, closing your blinds, eating light meals, avoiding outdoor activities and wearing light and light-coloured clothing are some of the basic tips to deal with summer that should always bear in mind. And, just as you must bear these suggestions in mind, you have to follow similar advice when preserving a product in perfect condition.
Frozen doughs or frozen pre-baked bread allow you to have premium-quality tasty and profitable food in a cafeteria or bakery, since its qualities and characteristics remain intact when frozen. Whatever the product on offer at your business (from water bread to pain au chocolat crème, including many others), they must all be preserved in the best possible way to guarantee they remain in perfect condition.
The fact is that the product served at an establishment must be treated with respect and delicacy all the year round, but which special care where high temperatures make it necessary to take special care of foodstuffs. This is when you have to be more careful when keeping and defrosting products such as pre-baked bread, without breaking the cold chain at any time. How to do it exactly? Keep reading.
Technical tips for handling the products
From storage to defrosting, there are a number of technical tips for handling products from frozen dough. Take note so you don’t lose a single jot of quality during this process.
Storage
Bread, sweet pastries and savoury pastries, like all other products, must always be stored in freezers until used at a stable temperature of -18 degrees. On the other hand, you can’t leave the food unprotected inside the chamber; rather, each item should be kept in its respective plastic bag and properly closed to protect it from the direct cold and prevent damage to its service.
The fact they are inside a freezer does not mean you don’t have to be careful and, above all, organised. Always having frozen doughs for the hotel industry in your business involves controlling the stock to anticipate orders and avoid running out of stock, placing the product to make it easier to recognise and leaving the stored products on the front row for long to give them priority, thus respecting the use-before dates.
Defrosting
Just as important as storage is the defrosting process, especially when the high temperatures arrive. Therefore, the first thing to bear in mind is to take the product out of the freezer for as little time as possible so as to avoid sudden temperature changes while the freezer is open.
Defrosting must be done in closed places without draughts of air, since they can dry out the items. You must also respect the defrosting times given on each product, whether it’s a crystal bread, a mini chocolate croissant or any other food. And, of course, a defrosted product cannot be refrozen.
If you follow these technical tips to the letter, it will be easier than ever to keep all your business’s or establishment’s products in optimal conditions so that its results are not affected, and you can offer premium-quality products every day. And, despite the high temperatures, there is something that doesn’t change in any season of the year: irresistible, freshly-baked products that you can enjoy in a cafeteria or bakery.
