Spiral mixer cools the dough
to keep better quality control, its manufacturer claims.
VMI claims its Frostmix is the first spiral mixer equipped with a triple jacketed rotary bowl cooled by circulating glycol water. The mixer incorporates VMI's cooling system, plus a number of other features designed to improve dough temperature control in bakery manufacturing. It can keep the dough between 16°C and 20°C during mixing, seven to 10°C cooler than if a coolant wasn't being used, the company claimed. "The triple jacketed bowl enables the dough to be cooled during kneading without having to use ice or carbon dioxide," the company stated. "This is very important because ice flakes cut the gluten network and require longer mixing times as well as more heat. It should also be remembered that C02 injection is very expensive and there is always the risk of the dough ''burning'." Frostmix retains traditional mixing methods by incorporating a turning spiral and rotating bowl. The spiral is not oversized and the mixer has an integrated tipping system for emptying the mixing bowl, the company stated. The bowl is locked by hydraulically activated double clamps, a major advantage when the mixer is operating with stiff doughs, the company claimed. Frostmix is available in three models, the 160, the 200 and the 250, with the numbers denoting maximum mixing capacity in kilograms. The mixers are available in single or double spiral versions and with manual or automatic controls. "For ambitious bakers and food manufacturers serious about puff pastry, croissant, pizza dough and particularly bread doughs for par-baked production the Frostmix will be of keen interest to them," the company stated. VMI employs 250 staff at its factory in Montaigu on the Atlantic coast of France. The company has supplied about 160,000 mixers to food and manufacturers bakers globally. The mixer is being supplied and supported in the UK and Ireland by European Process Plant.
