TH2001

Laboratory Exercise
Tools Used in Baking and Pastry Arts and Their
Functions
Objective:

At the end of the exercise, the students should be able to:

 Give examples and uses of various baking and pastry tools, bakeware, and equipment.

Materials:

 Tools and equipment (For moving quiz)

Basic Principles:

Baking Tools and Equipment

Large Equipment

Mixers of various types are essential tools in the bakeshop. Doughs and batters in small quantities may be
mixed and kneaded by hand, but high volumes of these in commercial baking would be impossible without
power mixers. There are four (4) types of mixers: vertical or planetary mixers, spiral mixers, horizontal mixers,
and continuous mixers (see Figure 1).

Vertical Mixer Spiral Mixer Horizontal Mixer Continuous Mixer

https://images.app.goo.gl/j2FXPLiNRTpTPZJW6 https://images.app.goo.gl/SjVyjUh46nNnu3pk6 https://images.app.goo.gl/dyJBdkSnH5c3wkUK7 https://images.app.goo.gl/D2hKYSviZDMqYtuJ9

Figure 1. Types of Mixers

Vertical mixers are the most common type used in baking. It is also known as a planetary mixer because of
the motion of the beater attachment. The beater rotates on its own axis while rotating in an orbit to reach all
sides of the mixing bowl. There are three (3) main mixing attachments for vertical mixers (see Figure 2):
• Paddle or flat beater is a flat blade used for general mixing.
• Wire whip is used for beating eggs and whipping foams and creams.
• Dough arm/hook is used for kneading and mixing yeast doughs.
Other mixing attachments for vertical mixers are as follows:
• Sweet dough arm combines the actions of the hook and paddle attachments. It is used for mixing
sweet doughs.

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 1 of 6
 TH2001

• Wing whip is used for mixing heavy materials.

• Pastry blender is used to blend fat and flour, as in making
pie doughs.
Spiral mixers are used primarily for making large quantities and are
designed for heavy doughs and batters. Unlike vertical
mixers, these do not have interchangeable bowls or attachments.
There are three (3) main varieties of spiral mixers:
• Fixed-bowl mixers have a non-removable
bowl, so the dough must be lifted by hand.
• Removable-bowl mixers have a bowl that can be removed
from the machine, usually on a wheeled trolley.
• Tilt mixers work in a way in which the entire mixer tilts up to deposit the finished dough onto a tray or
another container.
Horizontal mixers are large, industrial-sized machines capable of handling up to several thousand pounds of
dough at a time.
Continuous mixers are a type of mixer in which scaled ingredients enter the machine continuously at one
end, then blended and developed into a dough as they move through the machine until a finished dough
emerges on the other end.

Dough-Handling Equipment
• Dough fermentation trough is used to hold mixed yeast doughs during fermentation.
• Dividers cut scaled pieces of dough into equal portions using a die or cutter attached to a hydraulic or
mechanical lever assembly.
• Divider-rounder divides the dough and then automatically rounds the individual portions.
• Dough sheeter rolls out portions of dough into a uniform thickness by feeding the dough on a canvass
conveyor belt and in through rollers inside the machine.
• Molder rolls out and forms pieces of dough for standard loaves, baguettes, and rolls.
• Retarder is a refrigerator that maintains a high level of humidity to prevent the dough from drying out
or crusting.
• Retarder-proofer is a machine that retards or slows down the fermentation process at a set time and
proofs the dough after.

Ovens are enclosed spaces in which food is heated, usually by hot air. There are several kinds of ovens:
• Deck oven. Items to be baked are placed directly on the bottom or the deck of the oven. There are no
racks for holding pans. It is also called a stack oven because several deck ovens may be stacked on
top of one another.
• Rack oven. This is a large oven that has an entire rack full of sheet pans, which can be wheeled in for
baking.
• Mechanical oven. In this type of oven, the food is in motion while it bakes. The mechanical action
eliminates the problem of hotspots or uneven baking.
• Convection oven. This contains fans that circulate the air and distribute the heat rapidly throughout
the interior.
• Conventional oven. The heat source of this oven (electric or gas) is located at the bottom, underneath
the floor of the oven, and heat is conducted through the floor.
• Steam-injection oven. This vents steam into the oven as bread and rolls bake. The steam helps to
develop the crust and ensures that loaves of bread stay moist enough to expand properly during
baking.
• Combi oven. This combines the advantages of steaming and convection ovens. It can be used in
steam mode, hot-air convection mode, or heat/steam (combi) mode.
• Microwave oven. This uses electricity to generate microwave radiation, which cooks or reheats food
very quickly.

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 2 of 6
 TH2001

Mixing, Chopping, and Pureeing Equipment

• Blender consists of a base that houses the motor and a removable lidded jar with a propeller-like blade
set in the bottom. It is best for pureeing, liquefying, and emulsifying foods.
• Immersion blender (stick blender, hand blender, or burr mixer) is a long, slender one-piece
machine that works like an inverted countertop blender. The top part houses the motor and a blade that
is immersed in the food being pureed.
• Vertical chopping machines (VCMs) operate on the same principle as a blender. It has a base that
houses the motor and is permanently attached to a bowl with integral blades. It is used to grind, whip,
emulsify, blend, or crush foods.
• Food chopper, or buffalo chopper, is a piece of equipment in which food is placed on a bowl that
rotates when the machine is turned on; food passes under a hood while blades rotate vertically to chop
the food.
• Food processor consists of a motor at its base and a detachable work bowl fitted over a stem and
locked into place, along with the appropriate blade or disk.

Baking Pans, Rings, and Molds

• Barquette is a small boat-shaped mold for petits fours and tartlets.

• Bombe mold is a dome-shaped, mostly made of silicone, mold for frozen desserts.
• Brioche mold is a flared pan with fluted sides for making brioche.
• Cake pans are mostly round, but other shapes are available for specialty cakes.
• Cake rings, or charlotte rings, are stainless-steel rings in various diameters and heights often used
for molding desserts and holding the shape of desserts.
• Charlotte mold is a round, tapered, and flat-bottomed mold, with two (2) handles near the top rim.
• Corn stick pans are special baking pans with indentions shaped like small ears of corn.
• Hotel pans are rectangular pans usually made of stainless steel. These are designed to hold food in
service counters. The standard size is 10” x 20” but other sizes (½, ¼, and so on) are available.
• Loaf pan is a rectangular pan usually with slightly flared sides. Another type of loaf pan
is called pullman pan, which has straight sides and a removable lid for baking pullman loaves.
• Madeleine pan is a special baking pan with shell-shaped indentions for baking madeleines.
• Muffin pan is a metal baking pan with cup-shaped indentations for baking muffins.
• Petit four molds are tiny metal molds in a variety of shapes and are used for baking an assortment of
little tartlets, financiers, and other petit fours.
• Pie pan is a shallow pan with sloping sides used for baking pies.
• Savarin mold is a small ring-shaped or doughnut-shaped metal mold fold savarins.
• Sheet pan is a shallow, rectangular pan for baking sheet cakes, cookies, rolls, and other baked goods.
• Springform pan is a pan with a removable bottom that is used primarily for baking cheesecakes and
other items too delicate to be cleanly removed from other cake pans.
• Tart pan is a shallow metal pan, usually with fluted slides, used for baking tarts. It may be made in
one piece or may have a removable bottom.
• Tube pan is a deep cake pan with a tube in the center, which promotes even baking of angel food
cakes and similar items.

Scaling and Measuring Tools

Scales
• Beam balance or baker’s scales have two (2) platforms attached on either end of a beam. The point
where the beam and the base meet is the fulcrum. At the front of the scale, a weight hangs from a
bar notched at 30-g increments; this hanging weight is moved to the correct notch when weighing out
ingredients. It uses a counterweight, which is placed on the right platform, to measure weight that is
greater than the maximum weight shown on the scale.
• Spring scales have a platform set on top of a pedestal that contains a spring mechanism for weighing
and a dial indicator on the front.

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 3 of 6
 TH2001

• Digital scales have a stainless-steel platform set on an electronic base with a digital display.
Volume measures
• Graduated pitchers, beakers, measuring cups, and spoons are
commonly used in the bakeshop to measure liquids and pourable
ingredients. Pitchers and cups are scaled off with lines or markings
to show varying measures (see Figure 3).
• Dry measuring cups are used to measure the volume of dry
ingredients. In bakeshops, these are used to measure small
amounts of ingredients like salt, spices, and baking soda. To
accurately use these, overfill the cup then scrape the excess
away using a straightedge.
Thermometers
• Instant-read thermometers are used to check the temperature of
food items quickly. It is available with both dial and digital readouts.
• Stem-type thermometers consist of a long stem with a digital or
dial head that indicates the temperature.
• Probe thermometers consist of a plastic digital readout base with a metal probe on the end of a cord.
• Candy (or sugar or deep fat) thermometers can withstand temperatures up to 260°C.

Baking and Pastry Tools

Hand tools for sifting, straining, and pureeing

• Sieves and strainers are used to sift and aerate ingredients, as well as to remove any large impurities
from them.
• Food mill has a curved blade that is rotated over a disk by a hand-operated crank. This is used to strain
and puree food.
• Cheesecloth is a light, fine-mesh cotton gauze frequently used along with or in place of a fine conical
sieve to strain very fine sauces and similar items.
Tools for bread baking
• Lame is a thin-arced razor blade clamped into a small stainless-steel, wooden, or plastic handle. It is
used to score proofed yeast bread and rolls before these are baked.
• Bench knife has a thin, stiff rectangular steel blade set in a wooden or plastic handle and is used for
scraping, lifting, folding, and cutting dough.
• Couche, or heavy linen cloth, is used for proofing baguettes. The shaped dough is arranged in the
folds of the cloth and left to proof.
• Banneton is a bentwood basket used for proofing, molding, and shaping bread.
Tools for pastries and cookies
• Rolling pins are used to flatten and thin doughs. These may be made of wood, marble, metal, or
synthetic materials. There are three (3) types of rolling pins: tapered, straight, and with handle.
• Cookie cutters are thin sheets of metal or plastic that have been molded or formed into shapes. These
are used to stamp out individual cookies from rolled doughs.
• Dough docker is a roller studded with rounded spikes made with metal or plastic. It is used to pierce
air holes quickly and cleanly in rolled sheets of dough before blind-baking.
• Pastry brushes are used in a variety of tasks like applying egg wash on bread, brushing off excess
flour, or applying a layer of syrup on top of fruits.
• Pastry wheel is used to make long, smooth, continuous cuts. It has a very sharp round nickel-plated
blade attached to a handle so that it rotates as it is pushed forward.
Tools for décor work
• Pastry bags may be reusable or disposable. It is used with a piping tip for piping designs on cakes,
extracting choux paste into various shapes, or filling pastries with creams or jams.
• Piping tips are generally made from nickel-plated metal. These vary in opening sizes and shapes like
stars, round, and oval, among others.

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 4 of 6
 TH2001

• Cake and decorating combs are used to make a pattern of lines in the icing coating of a cake or
pastry. These have teeth with different shapes and sizes.
• Wire cooling racks are grates of heavy-gauge chrome-plated steel wire. These are used to cool down
baked goods. These may also be used for glazing and confectionery work.
• Fondant funnel is a metal or plastic funnel with a manually operated valve used in filling chocolates,
making candies, and portioning sauces.
• Chocolate molds are used for making figures made from chocolate.
• Dipping tools are a variety of hand tools consisting of stainless-steel prongs or loops fastened
into a wooden or plastic handle. These are designed for dipping nuts, fruits, or ganache into chocolate,
syrup, or fondant coating.
• Caramel bars, or confectioners’ rulers, are metal bars used for framing ganache or caramel while it
is in “liquid” form so that it sets in a specific thickness and dimension.
• Guitar is a stainless-steel cutter that is used to precisely cut multiple squares, rectangles, triangles, or
diamonds out of slabs of a variety of different semisoft confections.
• Transfer sheets are acetate sheets with designs imprinted on them. These are used to imprint designs
on chocolates.

Other Small Tools

• Graters are made with metal perforated with openings that shred away pieces of an ingredient.
• Citrus zester is a small hand tool consisting of a metal head with a row of small holes.
• Rasp is a long flat piece of stainless steel with perforations, well-suited for zesting and finely grating
chocolate and hard cheeses.
• Swivel-bladed peelers remove thin layers of zest from fruits or vegetables.
• Lemon reamer is a conical tool used for extracting the juices of a lemon.
• Apple corer may be a hand tool or a mechanical device. The hand tool has a stainless-
steel cylinder with a sawtooth end for cutting into apples, while the mechanical device has an arm with
three (3) prongs that are inserted to the apple, fixing it on a crank handle that drills into a cylindrical
blade that extracts the core.
• Whips or whisks are made from several thin wires bound together with a handle. These are used to
blend or whisk ingredients, loosen and evenly distribute ingredients, and make foams, whipped
creams, or meringues. There are two (2) types of whips: balloon whips, which are sphere-shaped;
and flat whips, which have wires formed into a flat, round shape.
• Rubber spatulas are used to scrape mixtures from bowls and into baking pans and other containers,
push food through sieves, fold ingredients together, and spread batters and fillings into even layers.
• Plastic bowl scrapers are like the head of a rubber spatula without a handle. These may be rounded
on one side and are efficient for scraping bowls completely clean.
• Metal spatulas are somehow similar to knives. They have long metal blades that are typically blunt and
have a rounded end.
• Flexible silicone baking mats are used for lining sheet pans to give them a nonstick baking surface.
These can withstand oven temperatures up to 260°C.
• Parchment paper is a grease-resistant, nonstick, heatproof, quick-release coated paper. It has endless
uses, such as lining baking pans and making piping cones for décor work.

References:
Gisslen, W. (2017). Professional baking (7th ed.). Wiley & Sons
The Culinary Institute of America. (2009). Baking and pastry: Mastering the art and craft (2nd ed.). Wiley & Sons.

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 5 of 6
 TH2001

Procedure:

A. Identification Activity
1. You will be grouped by your instructor.
2. With your team, you will be tasked to research on the baking equipment mentioned in this file.
Additional items are encouraged so you will have a wide background of this equipment and tools.
2. Use a Word document for your group’s output.
3. Assign to each group member which part he or she should focus on and finalize afterward.
4. Identify the tools and equipment by adding details as to their use, and include images. This will
help you familiarize the tools and equipment.
3. Below serves as a sample outline that you may use. Your output will be submitted via eLMS
Dropbox.

Equipment/Tool Description Use Image

01 Laboratory Exercise 1 *Property of STI

Page 6 of 6