Baking & Snack - April 2022 - 32

HUDSON BREAD CO.
" THE FRESH
BUSINESS KEEPS YOU
HONEST TO YOUR
PRODUCTION BECAUSE
THE FEEDBACK IS
IMMEDIATE, AND
THAT KEEPS YOU ON
THE PULSE OF THE
BUSINESS. "
Mariusz Kolodziej, Hudson Bread
To keep up
with customer
demand for frozen
product, Hudson
Bread invested
in an automated
packaging system
for that production
line.
Hudson Bread
then racked manually and placed in the cold proof boxes
overnight. Product is then moved into the oven room
that houses nine MIWE thermal oil ovens: two thermal
express ovens, four thermal-static ovens and three Ideal
ovens. The two MIWE thermal express ovens feature automated
loading and unloading.
Products that are headed to the freezer are automatically
transferred to an overhead conveyor for their extensive
cool-down process. The four thermal-static ovens
are manually loaded, and product destined for the
freezer are cooled at ambient temperature before being
put on an elevator to the overhead conveyor. The three
Ideal deck ovens par-bake larger loaves.
After baking, fresh product is cooled at ambient temperature
on racks before being sliced and packaged by a
LeMatic packaging line and checked by a Mettler-Toledo
metal detector. They are then boxed and await distribution
by Hudson Bread's fleet of delivery trucks.
Frozen product cools on overhead conveyors at an
ambient temperature until it reaches 190˚F, a process
that takes about 8 minutes. After that, it enters Hudson
Bread's two-stage freezing process it developed with
MIWE.
" We worked with MIWE to develop a cooling and
freezing process that wouldn't dry out our product, " Mr.
Million explained. " In a lot of bakeries, they will freeze
the product quickly, and the shock cracks the crust. We
were concerned about losing our crust, and that will also
drive out some of the moisture in the product. "
To prevent this shock effect and preserve Hudson
Bread's signature quality, product first enters a MIWE
enclosed spiral cooler, which brings the product temperature
to 40˚F. Then it enters a spiral freezer that is set to
32 Baking & Snack April 2022 / www.bakingbusiness.com
-25˚F for the final freeze, which can take 28 to 60 minutes
depending on the size of the product.
Once the product is frozen, it enters the Niverplast
packaging system, another recent investment. A case
erector builds the boxes that are filled by three employees.
Then the Niverplast system vacuum seals, checks
the weight, tapes and labels the box. Eventually, Hudson
Bread hopes to install a robot to stack the boxes.
The frozen product is then stored in Hudson Bread's
new freezer warehouse, just finished in March. The frozen
product line was so well-received by Hudson Bread's customers
that the bakery outgrew its original freezer storage
within a year and had to find off-site cold storage. The
new space triples the onsite freezer storage. Altogether,
Hudson Bread will be able to store 260 pallets of frozen
bread and rolls, equating to 11 trucks a week. In 2019, the
company could only supply three trucks a week.
It seems clear that frozen is where the growth is, but
Mr. Kolodziej isn't giving up on his 27 years of fresh
bread production quite yet.
" Our plan is to continue with our fresh business as
we expand into the frozen, " he said. " The fresh business
keeps you honest to your production because the feedback
is immediate, and that keeps you on the pulse of
the business. "
While frozen provides a lot of flexibility for both
Hudson Bread and its customers, sales in fresh are coming
back strong as the foodservice industry rebounds.
Regardless of whether the product is fresh or frozen, it's
still Hudson Bread.
" Our position remains firm, " Mr. Kolodziej said.
" Hudson Bread uses a unique European proofing process
that creates truly delicious breads. "
*
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Baking & Snack - April 2022

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