Baking for large numbers.

[CUBSCHEF25]

I am a few weeks into a new job as Pastry Chef at a major University and along with my staff of 3(right now)-6(fully staffed) will be responsible for dessert for 3 meals a day for 5 student dining halls, catering events and a few cash operations.So thousands of kids a day. Now ive never done large numbers on a regular basis so im looking for some advice. Right now we are doing pretty much everything from frozen ready to bake or mixes, not much from scratch. My bosses, and myself, want to raise the quality. Any tips or suggestions on how to do this but not totally put my self in the weeds.

One more thing... when converting recipes to much larger batches lets say a recipe for a 9x9 to a full sheet pan(18x26) how do you figure out how many times to multiply the recipe. I usually just use my best judgement and guess. Any math equation?

[minas6907]

Well for the scaling, this is what I would do:

9x9=81

18x26=468

square root of 81=9

square root of 468=21.63

21.63/9=2.40

So for a recipe that is made to fit into a 9x9 pan, it needs to be scaled 2.40 times, or just 2.5 for simplicity's sake. I'm not pastry chef, nor am I good with math, so if anyone knows an easier way I'd like to know.

[lebowits]

Well for the scaling, this is what I would do:

9x9=81

18x26=468

square root of 81=9

square root of 468=21.63

21.63/9=2.40

So for a recipe that is made to fit into a 9x9 pan, it needs to be scaled 2.40 times, or just 2.5 for simplicity's sake. I'm not pastry chef, nor am I good with math, so if anyone knows an easier way I'd like to know.

Not all formulas scale linearly. Sometimes you have to tweak the liquid and/or fat. If you've not seen it, find a copy of "The Bakers Manual" by Joseph Amendola. One volume (linked) contains 150 master formulas both scaled for production and for "single, home kitchen" batches. This has been one of my "go to" books for years. The companion volume is a tutorial on the various products.

[minas6907]

Thanks lebowits.

Now that I think of it, Professional Baking ( http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Baking-Wayne-Gisslen/dp/047178348X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341658629&sr=8-1&keywords=professional+baking ) has large scale formulas for all the recipes in the book. Also, perhaps pick up a copy of The Professional Pastry Chef, On Baking, or CIA's Baking and Pastry. If your doing large scale stuff, I'd probably dump the recipes you have that are for the home and pick up a text that focuses on cooking for large amounts. Food for Fifty isnt bad also, but I would do the previously mentioned books before this one.

[LindaK]

In her book The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum has a chapter for professionals that might be helpful to you.

For scaling, it includes a chart "Percentages of Major Ingredients in Basic Cake Types" that provides the proportion of liquid, egg, flour, sugar, and fat for 10 different cake types (ex: pound, butter, sponge, etc).

It also included numerous recipes for 150 servings. These are intended for use in making wedding cakes and other large-scale productions. Info on pan sizes, etc. too.

[Chocolot]

I'm no mathematician but I think you just divide the 468 by 81 and you get 5.8 times the smaller recipe.

[Heartsurgeon]

check this out....

http://www.jbprince.com/web-pages/sklip-rack-system.asp

don't doubt me...

lets you densely stack sheet trays in the oven/fridge

you will need to take into account possible changes in baking/cooking times due to air flow changes, mass of food in the oven.

[minas6907]

I'm no mathematician but I think you just divide the 468 by 81 and you get 5.8 times the smaller recipe.

That sounds more accurate, I just wish I was a mathematician.

[pastrygirl]

Well for the scaling, this is what I would do:

9x9=81

18x26=468

square root of 81=9

square root of 468=21.63

21.63/9=2.40

So for a recipe that is made to fit into a 9x9 pan, it needs to be scaled 2.40 times, or just 2.5 for simplicity's sake. I'm not pastry chef, nor am I good with math, so if anyone knows an easier way I'd like to know.

I'm sorry, but that makes no sense. Why would you take the square root? You want the same thickness of cake batter covering a larger area. You can visualize that if a full sheet pan is 18 x 26, and you take a bit off the long end to make a square, you have an 18 x 18 square, which will fit four 9 x 9 squares. Then you still have that 18 x 8 piece, which is almost two more. 468/81 = 5.78. Multiply the 9x9 recipe by 5-3/4 or even 6 if that's easier.

[minas6907]

I'm sorry, but that makes no sense. Why would you take the square root? .

Because I'm an idiot. I did similar math when I started in Chocolates and Confections and wanted to make a half recipe for something that got poured into a 12 inch frame, and I realized by doing the same math that I would need a 8.5 inch frame for a half recipe, and being the genius I am I thought I could apply it here, but it obviously doesn't work, that's why I'm not the pastry chef.

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