The WP Riehle ITES High Speed Oven
 
Pretzels are gaining popularity as one of the hottest snack foods across America. But are you well-equipped to handle making authentic German pretzels?
 
Part of WP Bakery Group USA, WP Riehle produces stand-alone lye applicators for small quantities to customized automated systems for large companies. Open kettle fryers with low fat absorption, extremely light bite and an appealing size are the characteristics that differentiate quality doughnuts from mass-produced goods. With unique turning technology, in conjunction with the steam lid, WP Bakery Group USA provides an extremely dynamic heating technology for minimum temperature fluctuations.
 
The highlight of lye application machines is the so-called “lye shower.” This lye application technology that WP Bakery Group USA has developed is superior to conventional lye curtains. The individual lye jets wash the entire surface of the pretzel or the other products to which lye should be applied in the same way as with dipping appliances, but instead just wetted. This means that mottled pretzels are a thing of the past, even when lye is applied at the highest speeds.
 
The optional placement conveyor that is available with the Allround and Comjet allows the pieces of dough to be placed gently and evenly onto the baking tray. A “message” is no longer required. The placement conveyor also prevents any excess salt building up on the baking tray and sticking to the lye coated pastries from underneath.
 
The WP Riehle ITES High Speed Oven is a game-changer in on demand baking for the foodservice Industry. Winner of the prestigious iba Innovation Award at iba 2015, it’s a German designed and built infrared oven that bakes from the outside in and it bakes from the inside out. The oven is designed especially to bake off frozen par-baked and frozen raw breads and snacks such as pizza slices, sausage rolls, pretzels and more.
 
The ITES High Speed Oven uses specialized infrared (patent pending) technology to quickly defrost frozen baked goods, then quickly bake, toast, crisp and/or brown the food – producing fresh-baked quality pretzels, pastries, dinner rolls, pizza, and more – in about 10% to 25% of the cooking time compared to conventional cooking methods. This infrared technology penetrates deep into the product for rapid thawing and rapid baking while retaining the product’s moisture, increasing the shelf life and improving the quality of the finished product. 
 
A typical German pretzel baked in the conventional way would have a total cycle time of more than 35 to 45 minutes including thawing. With the ITES oven, pretzels are done in just 8 minutes, including thawing. The optional salter allows for the complete baking cycle to be achieved automatically directly from the freezer. Bakers place the products onto the stainless steel belt, push the start button and the oven does the rest. The products are first gently thawed in the oven, exit to be salted and then automatically get pulled back in to be finished.