The hotdog buns I buy are still stuck together from the baking process. You have to tear them apart from each other to use them, yet they are sliced as hotdog buns normally are. Since the sides of the buns are stuck to each other, they must be sliced in a plunging manner from the end of the buns. Yet the buns are so soft you would think this kind of cut would crush them or at least mark up the end of the bun where it enters but the slice can’t even be seen until you pull the buns apart. Has anyone seen how this is done in commercial bakeries?
No, I can’t say that I have…but I (like you) am curious to hear an explanation from anyone else thats more experienced.
Sorry, no answer…just bumping this in hopes it gets answered.
I’ve heard it said that technology, when done well, is indistinguishable from magic. I think this is a good place to say that, and I wish I knew who said it.
Complete and utter guess: I always assumed they were not stuck together from the baking process, but because they were put together while still hot which resulted in them being “spot welded” together. So perhaps they are baked individually, and easily sliced.
On retrospect, I’m not sure if hot fresh baked bread would stick together.
I have to say, that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced difficulty plunging hot dog into a bun.
Cartooniverse
Seems like it’d be easier to get the pre-baked dough, cut a slit in it with a sharp blade, and then bake it, although it might stick together a bit more then. Another possible thing in the same vein is perhaps a bit of baking, blade, then rest of baking.
I work in a high-volume cafe which has a bakery attached to it. We have a machine that slices hotdog buns, burger buns, etc. All we do is individually drop the finished bun into the machine and <poof> out they come sliced. I believe you can change the angle/depth of the blade; although I don’t work in the bakery. I’m sure in industrial bakeries they have the same machine, just bigger.
Aurthur C. Clarke says in Technology and the Future:
This doesn’t help at all, but I’ve now got a vision of some post-nuclear-winter guys standing around in a circle, each holding an unsliced bun and sort of poking it with a hotdog, saying “I swear, we used to be able to get these things right in there - damned if I remember how…”
Then why does the fresh cut not re-weld back together?
I was only speculating on the “spot-weld” theory, but I was assuming it only happens when it’s fresh from the oven.
It probably doesn’t happen at all, FWIW.
If I remember correctly, it is a special blade which is called “a burr-free scallop design.”
The commerical versions are the same. You just wait till they are baked, put them on a belt, and a blade slices away.
As a side note, English Muffins and already “preferated” bread products, are forked. Instead of slicing they just insert a fork.
Got this reply from the VP in Charge of Sales & Marketing at a local baking company.
"The blades are on the end of stationary spindles that are set at the
prescribed height and then the product itself is on a belt that forces the
rolls through the slicer to acheive the required slicing. Cluster Hot Dog
8’s have always been made this way. The pan they are baked in puts 4 rolls
together rather than individual rolls. "
If the buns were sliced all the way through, this machine would work a treat, but alas, the buns I get are not sliced all the way through. The top of the bun and the bottom of the bun are still attached on one side. If the buns went through the machine individually, then it could be set to slice part of the way through but again, the buns are in clusters of four. I can’t see any way to run four stuck together buns through this machine and have them come out partially sliced through.
Looking at the arragement, the clear answer is that the buns are sliced from the ends, not from the sides…
The blade enters the bun from the end and slices out toward the side, and is then removed from the bun out the same end.
Speaking of hot dog buns, does anyone remember the old fashioned buns that looked like a shallow loaf of bread? They looked all the world like a loaf that had alternating slices thru the bread, and almost thru, leaving individual sliced buns that were perfect for toasting on the outside and nestling buns against soft, delicate bread on the inside.
[/atkins-induced carb fantasy]
Move the blade over…
I think this is the one to use:
http://www.oliverproducts.com/bakery_equipment/bun-bagel_slicers/703_clusterslicer.htm