Chris Huish, Technical Sales Manager at Mono Equipment, part of AGA Bakery, and a trained baker, gives his views on selecting the right bake off equipment for your needs.

"Bake off provides busy bakers with the ideal opportunity to introduce new product lines without having to invest heavily in new equipment or training staff. And with today's consumers demanding authentic products more than ever - whether artisan bread, French patisserie or savoury pastries - it pays to use bake off to complement your scratch bakery operation.

"Bake off is all about theatre: fresh baking in front of customers and creating an aroma to entice purchase. Choose a unit that has big, clear glass doors so that customers can see the fresh bread or pastries baking off. "It goes without saying that an oven used at point of sale should be kept in pristine condition to ensure consumer confidence not just in your bakery but in the quality of your products.

"It is essential to choose a unit that is big enough for your needs. If bake off is just a small part of your business, baking off Danish pastries, croissants and sausage rolls for example, then a four tray oven is probably sufficient (although ovens can be stacked to create eight trays). For back of house or bakers with high bake off volume - hot bread shops for example - a larger oven with 10 trays is the best option.

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"One of the benefits of bake off is that the ovens can be used with very little additional training and are ideal for staff working front of house in the bakery retail environment to operate. Clear visual, hands off controls which demonstrate exactly what the equipment is doing - heating, cooling, ready - mean that bakery staff can monitor the bake at a distance without wasting valuable time walking to the oven.