Automated bread-making system

An automated system for the continuous production of baked product, comprising:

• a priming assembly comprising:
• a first dry ingredients priming unit comprising:
• a vertically-oriented hopper having a conical sidewall, a hopper inlet for receiving a first dry ingredient, a hopper outlet for discharging the first dry ingredient, and a central longitudinal axis;
• and
• a screw positioned within an interior region of the hopper, wherein the screw extends along the central longitudinal axis of the hopper and is configured to rotate about its own central longitudinal axis;
• and
• a second dry ingredients priming unit configured to receive and hold a second dry ingredient, the second dry ingredients priming unit comprising a vertically-oriented vessel having an opening at its top end and an outlet at its bottom end configured to discharge the second dry ingredient from the vessel;
• and
• a wet ingredients priming unit including a liquid reservoir and an outlet for discharging a metered amount of wet ingredients from the reservoir;
• a mixing chamber fluidly coupled to the priming assembly and configured to separately receive the first and second dry ingredients from the first and second dry ingredients priming units and the wet ingredients from the wet ingredients priming unit and mix the wet ingredients and the first and second dry ingredients to form a lump of dough, wherein the lump of dough is sized to form an individual baked product;
• a forming assembly configured to receive the lump of dough from the mixing chamber and mold the lump of dough into a predetermined shape, wherein the forming assembly comprises:
• a conveyor belt with a top portion and a bottom portion,
• a forming belt with a top portion and a bottom portion, wherein the forming belt is positioned above the conveyor belt such that at least a portion of the forming belt is aligned with at least a portion of the conveyor belt,
• a conveyor belt support positioned between the top portion and the bottom portion of the conveyor belt, wherein the conveyor belt support is configured to limit flexing of the conveyor belt as the lump of dough moves along the conveyor belt,
• a forming belt support positioned between the top portion and the bottom portion of the forming belt, wherein the forming belt support limits flexing of the forming belt as the lump of dough moves along the forming belt, and
• an oven configured to receive the shaped lump of dough from the forming assembly and apply heat to transform the shaped lump of dough into a baked product;
• and
• a controller coupled to the priming assembly and having memory and processing circuitry, wherein the controller is configured, for each individual baked product, to:
• adjust the timing and/or amount of the first dry ingredient delivered from the first dry ingredients priming unit to the mixing chamber;
• and
• adjust the timing and/or amount of the second ingredient delivered from the second dry ingredients priming unit to the mixing chamber.