One of our objectives is to endlessly seek perfection, to innovate, to establish links between traditions and modern technology. Our market (Viennese baked goods) is going through profound changes. The marketplace has exploded with different solutions: traditional baking, industrial baking, deep-frozen ready-to-prove, deep-frozen pre-baked, deep-frozen ready-to-bake, etc. Today we are the leader in ready-to-bake technologies, and it is not due to chance. We have taken the best that changes brought on by progress has had to offer. And we have remained uncompromising in regard to quality.
• We have blazed a new trail in the field of bread-making with Process 124 beginning in 1988.
Several key figures
• 72 degrees Celsius are required to trigger coagulation of the gluten
• 4 hrs. 45 min. to make a baguette
• 20 minutes of final baking are required at the point of sale for a baguette
• 800 000 baguettes (or equivalent) produced by Process 124 every day throughout the world
We will not repeat the obvious: rigourous selection of the best raw materials, highly qualified teams, precise definition of the production equipment, seamless integration of date processing, carefully routed quality control, the slow and gradual nature of certain phases, i.e., requirements which can not be ignored. More specifically, Process 124 is the culmination of expert knowledge obtained in regards to the physical/chemical transformation of dough during the baking process, accompanied by latest techniques in data processing.
One of the crucial moments in making bread is the moment of coagulation, when the proteins in the gluten change physical state and become a solid mass. Most of the research has consisted in determining the precise conditions of the point of equilibrium between the production of CO2 and the beginning of the Maillard reaction, according to the structure of the dough, its composition and its method of preparation. A sudden temperature increase triggers coagulation of the gluten and stops the fermentation cycle, without beginning the baking. At this precise moment, after having undergone a sort of thermal shock, the bread attains its optimum size. Slowly cooled, then deep-frozen, the final phase need only be carried out at the point of sale.
The Process is truly revolutionary. It provides bread which is so very different from frozen pre-baked goods which dry out quickly, loose their crust easily, and which never attain their original taste.
• We benefit from the same advanced technology within the framework of our Viennese pastry branch. Viennese pastry is made from puff pastry containing yeast. The excellence of the result is measured in terms of its "buttery taste", lightness and crispiness, and comes from the quality of the puff pastry (obtained by forming multiple coats of butter and pastry and observing rest periods), and the fermentation (obtained by the action of the yeast).
In addition to ready-to-prove Viennese products (deep-frozen after shaping), which we mastered in 1990, our specificity lies in having perfected a range of ready-to-bake Viennese pastries. These products are shaped, then partially cooked. Our strong point is having perfected this step of fermentation: the product is proved enough to obtain, after baking, a shape and a volume comparable to high quality Viennese products. The prove, however, is not complete, which eliminates the main drawbacks of pre-proven Viennese pastry on the market. Following this crucial step in fermentation, the products are deep-frozen, then browned. This provides Viennese pastry which is very different from frozen pre-baked products which are sensitive to thermal shocks and dry out quickly once they are baked.
With ready-to-bake products, you do not need to prove them for hours and you do not need a proof cabinet. In fact, you do not need any special equipment. Everything is ready in 20 minutes. All you need is an oven.
The result? High quality bread and Viennese pastry, ready-to-bake anytime of the day, whenever you need them. Guaranteed to be fresh!