With expert bakers retiring in droves, plant operators are eyeing near infrared reflectance as a technological solution to proper dough mixing and development.

Lab tools like the farinograph and mixograph help visualize dough development and breakdown, but they are of no use in making real-time adjustments, resulting in considerable product waste. NIR spectral data, on the other hand, can give relatively unskilled operators real-time information about dough constituents such as protein, starch and lipids in the presence of water. Hardware improvements are helping to move NIR from the lab to the production line, provided the software-based algorithmic language to correctly interpret wavelength data is in place. Last year, Richard E. Dempster stepped in to oversee the American Institute of Baking's smart mixer project, which began in 1998. Dempster developed matrix algebra that contains seven equations, five relating to ingredients and the others to temperature and dough development. He also is addressing the engineering issues in bringing NIR technology to commercial mixers.