If you’re considering a replacement for traditional direct gas fired (DGF) ovens, that doesn’t mean saying goodbye to the signature snap, blister or caramelized notes your customers love. It just means getting intentional about heat delivery. At Reading Bakery Systems, we’ve spent years helping bakers move to electric and infrared-forward solutions while keeping their legacy textures intact – and often improving day-to-day consistency along the way.
What DGF Really Gave You – And How to Translate It
Bakers usually credit DGF with color and crunch, but the real magic comes from a mix of radiant load, convective lift, and tight moisture control over the belt. Our Emithermic Zones were designed to reproduce that balance. By combining radiant and convective heat with a humidity-controlled product zone, you can drive surface reactions for color while protecting internal moisture so products finish crisp, not tough. That’s the foundation for replicating “DGF taste” on non-flame systems.
The Oven Platform That Makes Replication Practical
On the Thomas L. Green PRISM OVEN platform, you can configure zones as Emithermic, Convection, or our Emithermic XE (the DGF replacement). That flexibility lets us build or retrofit a bake curve that mirrors your legacy profile, then tune each zone so top and bottom heat, air velocity, and dwell time hit the same texture cues you’re used to. It’s a single-pass system with proven balance and consistency for crackers, cookies, and biscuits – exactly what you want when you’re matching a known target.
Why Emithermic XE is the modern stand-in for DGF
Our Thomas L. Green Emithermic XE Oven was engineered as a superior replacement for traditional DGF technology. It uses electric radiant elements, Thermatec™ panels, and convective heat to deliver efficient, controllable bake energy – without ribbon burners. In practice, that means faster cleanups, simpler maintenance, lower emissions, and cracker performance that meets or beats the benchmark you set with gas. If you’re planning a phased transition, we can swap in XE zones where DGF used to live and validate product parity before full conversion.
Dialing in Texture with Electric Penthouses and SMART Zones
Electric doesn’t have to feel “different.” Our Electric Oven Zones use an electric penthouse with one element per plenum and dual blowers, so you can independently control top and bottom air speed and temperature. That fine control makes surface blistering, lift, and crumb set highly repeatable – especially on wide belts and fast lines. For lines baking pretzels and snack styles that need flexible heat modes, our SPECTRUM OVEN® SMART Zone combines radiant and convection in a single zone, so you can nudge sheen, snap, and color without a major rework.
A Smoother Changeover Than You Might Expect
Changing ovens can feel risky. That is why we start with your product, not our catalog. In trials, we’ll map your legacy curve, select the right mix of Emithermic XE and Convection zones on PRISM, and then verify line-speed capability at target color and moisture. Because the airflow and baking functionality of our electric zones mirror gas designs – just optimized for the electric heat source – the learning curve for operators is short and the results are familiar.
Keep the Texture, Lose the Flame
If your brand was built on a DGF bake, you don’t have to choose between sustainability goals and sensory loyalty when selecting a replacement for traditional direct gas fired (DGF) ovens. Learn more by calling Reading Bakery Systems at 610-693-5816 or contacting us online.