Baking Management Problem Solver Guidebook – September 2005

Producing bakery foods with premixes provides efficient processing, improved throughput and inventory control, increased flexibility, and most importantly, a consistent finished product. In addition, premixes eliminate the potential for human error, which is a significant concern for most high-volume bakers.

Bakers have countless options when switching from a scratch formula to a preblended mix.  Complete mixes contain almost all of the ingredients needed for a formula, except water and sometimes yeast.  Bases and concentrates also require water, but need additional bulk ingredients such as flour and sugar.

The use of preblended mixes offers special advantages to growing wholesale bakeries.  There is less inventory to handle and plant space can be used for production, not storage.  Mixes are purchased in sizes that range from individual bags to pallets to 40,000-lb. truckloads.  This variability allows bakers to customize orders to suit demand.  Mixes also allow for consistency from season to season, as the ingredients are tested to standards from batch to batch, unlike individual ingredients that may vary throughout the year.

For wholesales bakeries that are expanding by building new facilities or adding production lines, premixes provide a standardized yield that is an important economic factor.  Variances in weighing and measuring ingredients produce yields that vary widely from batch to batch, line to line and plant to plant.  Mixes are designed to produce exactly the same yield every time.  Directions are designed to be simple, allowing unskilled production employees to manufacture quality products.  Multi-plant bakeries are assured that each plant produces the same product with comparable costs, yields and product characteristics.  Premixes also allow bakeries to produce innovative new products without shouldering a significant research and development workload.