Scales for bakeries

From weighing out dough and raw materials to the label on a packed loaf: the scales you find in a bakery.

Weighing dough and ingredients

A recipe stands or falls by its proportions, and those proportions are weight. For flour, water and fat in kilos, a bench scale with a generous platform and a tare key for the tub is enough. For yeast, salt and improver it is a matter of grams or tenths of a gram: that is a job for a finer scale, because a scale that reads in steps of 5 g cannot tell 8 g of salt from 12 g.

The same tub, a changing empty weight

If you weigh in tubs and trays, you weigh the tray first. A scale with several tare memories holds the value for each tray, so nobody has to type it in or remember it. Check the tare with a new batch of trays: a wet tub weighs differently from a dry one, and that difference ends up in your dough. More on taring and tare memories in what is tare and how does taring work.

Packaged bread and the label

If the bread leaves packaged with a weight on the pack, it is a prepackage, and the three rules of the average quantity system apply - see the e-mark on prepackages. If you sell by the piece at the counter and the price follows from the weight, the scale must be verified. Label printing scales print weight, price, date and barcode in one operation.

Flour, fat and a damp cloth

A bakery is dusty and wet. Choose a version with a removable pan and a housing that can take a damp cloth; stainless steel and a higher IP rating extend the service life more than any function. What the ratings mean is explained in which IP rating does my scale need; you can read more about the material in stainless steel scales for wet and hygienic areas. Flour dust can also be explosive: around silos and filling points an ATEX zone may apply, see what is an ATEX scale.

Verification and maintenance

If you only weigh for your own recipes, nothing needs to be verified. As soon as the customer pays for the weight, the scale must carry the green M mark; we supply scales verified from the factory. Annual calibration with a certificate is also possible where verification is not mandatory: that is what a food safety audit wants to see.

Frequently asked questions

Which scale do I use for yeast and salt?

A scale that reads in steps of 0.1 g or 1 g, with a capacity that suits your smallest quantity. With a scale interval of 5 g you cannot reliably weigh out a few grams of salt.

Does the scale in my bakery need to be verified?

Only if the price follows from the weight - so at the counter, or when selling by the kilo. For weighing dough in the bakery itself it is not needed.

Can I put the weight on the packaging?

Yes, and then the average quantity system applies: on average the pack must contain what it says on it, with a permitted deviation per pack. See the e-mark on prepackages.

Can the scale cope with flour and cleaning?

It can if you choose a version with a removable pan and a higher IP rating. An ordinary office scale will not survive long in a bakery.

Customers also viewed