Test bakes are essential tools in the pursuit of baking excellence. They enable flour millers to develop, refine, monitor and test the ingredients they supply to bakeries and other food producers.  

What can help flour millers perfect their test bakes to give them the accurate results they depend on?  

What is a Test Bake?  

A test bake is a controlled production of a loaf or other baked product under test conditions. 

Normally, it is carried out for research and development or quality control at mills and bakeries. 

The purpose of the test bake is to assess the quality and performance of flour and various ingredients that go into the finished product.  

For the test bake to be effective, it needs to follow strict procedures, with careful controls in place.  

Test bakes should be reliable, repeatable and reproducible.  

Technology can support this with a baking quality analyser, which can provide detailed, objective data about test bake samples.  

Why is it Important to Get Test Bakes Right Quickly?  

Flour millers need a final, reliable and conclusive flour quality test, to ensure that their product will work for the bakers and other producers they are marketing and supplying it to.  

A lot can be riding on a test bake. If, for example, a miller has a large batch of flour it wants to produce and market, then it needs to be sure this batch will work as intended.  

Time is important because all elements in the supply chain rely on essential ingredients to fulfil production, distribute finished goods and satisfy consumer demand.  

Therefore, the challenge for flour millers is to perfect the test bake as an essential and decisive flour quality test.  

How Can C-Cell Ensure Flour Meets Expectations?  

As we have highlighted, the baking test itself must be under strictly controlled conditions.  

But it is just as important that flour millers can assess the results of the test bake accurately and objectively.  

The C-Cell baking quality analyser provides an accurate and objective analysis of vital baking quality data. 

 This data covers:  

  • Cell data  

  • Dimensions 

  • Features  

  • Crumb and structure. 

C-Cell is a digital imaging system. To use it, you simply take a sample slice of your test bake and place it in the instrument’s drawer.  

The instrument then takes a detailed digital image of the sample and uses this data for detailed analysis of the sample’s properties, including its internal and external structure.  

Not only are these results objective and detailed, but they’re also rapid and in a format that you can export to and read on other devices.  

Consequently, C-Cell performs as a versatile tool for providing measurable and actionable data that helps flour millers, bakers and other food testers refine and perfect their test bakes.  

For more information about using C-Cell for test bakes, please contact us.