We’ve been relying on an infrared gun at 5 a.m., but our baguette dough still swings 3–4°F — anyone moved to probe-style digital thermometers or in-bowl sensors that survive daily sanitizing? I’m aiming to tighten consistency and reduce remakes without slowing production so the 7 a.m — line keeps moving; real-world durability and read time are the priorities.
keep wax fresh — I get cleaner femur cuts swapping wax for a thin mineral-oil drip (FG white, about 1–2 drops/sec just above the upper guide); at 3,200 FPM 3 TPI stays ahead of dust and feed evens out — can you rig a drip or are you stuck with blocks?
My take: I’d lean toward the simplest next step and see if it changes anything this week — if not, you’ve got a clear case to escalate. What would block you from trying that?
We moved to a ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE — ‘reads in a blink’ and handles daily sanitizer — then probe the core twice about 45 sec into mixing and average; that tightened us to ±1°F without slowing the 7 a.m. line. Caveat: cabled in-bowl probes survive but hate long quat soaks, so budget annual replacements; want my water-temp cheat sheet to pair with it?
We ditched the 5 a.m. IR for an IP67 RTD probe clipped to the spiral guard — a food‑safe PT100 with a silicone lead rides the dough, gives 1‑sec updates, and handles daily sanitizer; we mark the mix when the core stabilizes at 50–60 sec. Small caveat: it reads about 1°F low in the first 30 sec unless the tip’s just under the surface, and you’ve gotta route the cable tight so it won’t catch.