Fully automatic donut production from a dough band

The market agrees unanimously: donuts of the highest quality are created from a continuous dough band. Here, the most important factor is gentle processing of the yeast dough, complying with a resting time of 20 to 30 minutes. RONDO has extensive experience in the development of donut lines and will be glad to advise you with respect to the optimal solution.


Process
The production process on a RONDO donut line can be split into six steps:

1. Production of the dough band
2. Ensuring the dough band has the desired width and final thickness
3. Stamping out the donuts including the centre
4. Cutting out the centre
5. Returning the dough scraps
6. Aligning and panning the donuts


OSCAR (“0” – Stress Calibrating Adjustable Rollers)
In a manner of speaking, the heart of the system is the RONDO donut dough band pre-former, OSCAR. The dough band pre-former patented by RONDO meets the required high standards with regard to gentle discharge of pre-leavened yeast doughs. It convinces with its simplicity and very short dough guidance from the portioning hopper all the way down to the conveyor belt.

Its main features are:

  • Two hexagonal rollers that carefully draw the dough out of the small hopper and feed it to the two finely grooved rollers.
  • Two flour dusters that apply flour to the rollers to prevent the dough from sticking.
  • Two pressing paddles that set the dough band to the desired width using oscillating movements.
  • A satellite head with ten free-rotating upper rollers. Thanks to the two lower rollers integrated in the system, two-stage rolling of the dough band is achieved before the traverse roller. This reduces the rolling force and preserves the gluten structure. The diameter of the OSCAR satellite is the largest on the market; the two lower rollers are also unique.

Dough band width and final thickness
The cross roller and subsequent calibration unit set the dough band to the right width and the desired final thickness. The RONDO donut cross roller features a large diameter as well as a special shape. It gently sets the dough band to the desired width and leaves no impressions on the dough.


Stamping
Another challenge is stamping out the donuts and the centres. The specially developed donut stamping tools from RONDO guarantee clean cutting of the products without sticking or crushing the soft dough pieces.  

 


Cutting out the centre and pulling off the dough scraps
With the specially developed RONDO stamping system, the centre is pushed out precisely, picked up by a traverse conveyor and transported away. The dough scraps, which can amount to up to 40%, are an important part of creating the dough for this type of donut production. Conveyor belts transport the scraps automatically to the mixer.


Aligning and panning
Before the unbaked donuts are panned, they are automatically aligned by a ruler guide, which means they can be panned precisely and cleanly.


Subsequent process

Following proofing and deep-frying, there are various possibilities to enhance the appearance of the donuts. Modern, fully automatic donut systems have a very high degree of automation, up to and including fully automatic packaging. In line with our motto ‘dough-how & more’, we will be glad to advise you with respect to your donut project.