converting recipes or commercial recipes

[greta]

im new to baking professionally and need help converting recipes for large scale baking. like turning bread recipes into 200 pound batches. also recipes for a 500 person dessert buffet.  I have heard somethings about the amount of leavener  like baking soda needing to be changed. im also trying to understand the bakers percentage and the effects on dough being mixed in a large mixer instead by hand as a lot of home recipes call for. any help would very apperciated

 

 

 

[teonzo]

If you are asking just for personal knowledge, then the best thing to do is buying these books:

Gisslen Wayne - "Professional Baking"

Suas Michel - "Advanced Bread and Pastry"

Figoni Paula - "How Baking Works"

and studying them extensively.

 

If you just moved from home baking to professional baking, then ask to your chef / supervisor to give you the due teachings / explanations.

 

If you just moved from home baking to professional baking AND are the one responsible for producing a dessert buffet for 500 people, then it's impossible to help you from here. It's not polite to say this, but if this is the case then you are doomed. Better going to your employer and admit you are not qualified for the job, before experiencing some total failures.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[greta]

i figured out a bread recipe that worked. I have also bought all of those books. they are great and i wish i had them earlier.  thank you for your suggestions!

Edited April 21, 2019 by greta (log)

[Smithy]

There have been a few discussions over the years about scaling recipes up, changing pan size, and so on. A careful search will turn them up, and you should feel free to follow up even on old topics. Here are two you may find useful:

Scaling cake recipes. Any magic?

Scaling from an 8 inch to a 9 inch pan

[pastrygirl]

Thanks for explaining, it's unfortunately not uncommon to have sudden staff changes that leave the remaining staff with a challenge. 

 

It's hard to give general rules for everything, we might be better at helping you with specific questions.  Some of it depends on your equipment.

 

Many things scale up just fine.  With 200lb of bread, the bigger challenge might be shaping and baking it all without it over-proofing.  But does your mixer fit 200 lb and can you wrestle it out of the bowl, or would it be better to mix 2 x 100 lb or 4 x 50 lb?  What is the max capacity of your ovens, and do you have room to store bread in the walk-in of it needs to wait for oven space??

 

The leavening in cakes might need adjusting when you're going from a 8" round to a 12" round, but not if you're just making tons of 8" rounds.  With cakes it's the pan size more than the batch size.

 

If you're putting out a dessert buffet for 500 people, you don't need 500 of each item.  If people eat 2 things each on average, 200 each of 5 different items should suffice. 

[greta]

thank you very much. all equipment to do large batches of bread are there. i already make 200 pounds of bread. i wanted to change one of bread recipes though. its irish soda bread so i wasnt sure how that would convert to such a large batch. as far as the dessert buffet i guess i was looking more for just some new ideas. eveything i make now goes in full sheet pans.

[julie99nl]

Is your bread recipe already in bakers percentage? If not, break it down into percentages and then it's pretty easy.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/bakers-percentage.html

[teonzo]

My apologies, I understood that you just made the jump from home baking to professional baking.

My book suggestions remain valid, you find all the answers you need in those 3 books.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[greta]

thank you teo for your suggestions and they are absolutely great books! i wish i had them earlier.  advanced bread and pastry is exactly what i need for my job! I did figure out a recipe though before the books and it thankfully worked out and everyone loved it!