Choose a dough mixer with a light touch

Whether you're working with a hand mixer in a small restaurant kitchen or mixing tons of dough in an industrial bakery, you know that the right dough mixer-one that combines ingredients without toughening the glutens-is one of the most important pieces of dough equipment you can use.

I recommend: Shaffer Equipment's bakery mixers can handle anywhere from 500 to 4000 pounds of dough at a time and still produce light-as-a-feather results. The President spiral mixer from Gemini Bakery Equipment Company has a revolving bowl that's easy to lift and remove. Hobart's Legacy industrial dough mixer is available in several floor-standing models. If you want to process small batches with your KitchenAid hand mixer, dough hooks are available from Cooking.com.

Find a commercial dough forming equipment

At high production levels, sheeting and forming are some of the tasks you want to turn over to a dough machine.

I recommend: Rondo Doge, a specialist in baking dough equipment, offers two leading models of dough machine: the Smartline produces a dough band with excellent gluten structure for any kind of dough from yeast to short to laminated, and the OSCAR is designed for bringing no-shear industrial strength to delicate doughs with high water content. Empire Bakery Equipment carries a full line of dough forming equipment to help you master makeup of everything from bread and rolls to bagels to cookies to dog treats.

Find dough rounders and dividers to form loaves and rolls

Today's dough rounders form loaves with as much care as by hand, and the right dough divider saves time on the industrial bakery production line.

I recommend: Benier dough rounders and dividers from the Kaak Group North America offer two key functions of dough forming equipment. Bloemhof Inc. produces automatic dough rounders for shaping the perfect artisan loaf. The Dutchess dough divider comes from Dutchess Bakers' Machinery, one of the industry's most respected brands. Use the Quadro dough divider from Erika Record LLC to form popular square breads and rolls like ciabatta.

Don't forget commercial pizza making equipment

Find pizza dough makers that recreate the taste and texture of hand-thrown crusts.

I recommend: The pizzXpress Professional Series from doughXpress offers automatic and manual pizza dough makers in a range of sizes. Search for the pizza dough machine of your dreams at Pizza Equipment World, part of the Restaurant Equipment World online wholesale network.

Locate used or refurbished dough forming equipment

Save money by taking your baking dough equipment shopping list to a vendor of used and refurbished dough equipment.

I recommend: CommercialBakery.com carries a full line of used dough machines. Check regularly, as listings change often. Visit Bakery Production Equipment, Inc., for new, used and reconditioned baking dough equipment. They specialize in getting new bakery businesses off the ground.