Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Measuring – testing – or controlling by inanimate means – Preparing solid product in final form by heating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-17
2002-12-24
Hendricks, Keith (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Measuring, testing, or controlling by inanimate means
Preparing solid product in final form by heating
C426S510000, C426S523000, C099S330000, C099S333000, C099S337000, C099S343000, C099S468000, C099S476000, C126S020000, C126S369000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06497907
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a device for making bakery products and a method of cooking and/or baking foodstuffs or bakery products.
Various devices for making bakery products, in particular for cooking and/or baking foodstuffs or bakery products, and a corresponding method are known. Document AT 401 707 B stipulates the temperatures and humidity to be applied both during preparation of the dough and during what is referred to as the proving time. In addition, the main proving process is interrupted before it is completed. This prevents a skin from forming prematurely on the baked products so that the steam, generated subsequently when baking previously deep-frozen bakery products and occurring at a relatively late point in the baking or cooking process, does not cause the skin to burst in the region of the top surface of the bakery products. All that is said about conditions pertaining to the bakery goods during baking is that when they have been placed on the baking tray, the bakery products should be sprayed with water and then baked using the most possible steam (steaming), which means that both hot air ovens as will as fan-assisted ovens can be used. The disadvantage of this is that it is not possible to delay or prevent the early formation of a skin on the bakery products during final finishing of the same baking process with any degree of reliability.
The objective of this invention is to provide a device of the type outlined above, as well as a method of cooking and/or baking foodstuffs or bakery products by means of which the cooking or baking process can be universally adapted to different conditions.
This objective is achieved by the characterising features of the invention. The advantage gained is that by constantly monitoring a desired and an actual value of the humidity and/or temperature in the oven in relation to the cooking or baking temperature and/or cooking or baking time, it is possible to prevent either excessive drying or too high a humidity at the surface of the bakery products as well as the formation of a skin in the region of the bakery products which is undesirable or occurs too late. Furthermore, the foodstuffs or bakery products are cooked or baked evenly.
This also makes it easy to control steam or other ingredients released from the foodstuffs or bakery products, which means that the finished cooked or bakery products can be improved, namely the appearance of the foodstuffs or bakery products as well as their conservation and freshness, in particular their crispiness, which can be maintained for a longer period. Another advantage of this solution resides in the fact that the respective humidity and the respective temperature in the oven in which the foodstuffs or bakery products are placed remains constant without any additional intervention, e.g. an extra measuring process.
By means of another embodiment, the actual value of the humidity and/or temperature can be taken into account overall during the subsequent cooking or baking process, which means that it is also possible to adapt changes in temperature and the timing of the cooking or baking process so that the quality produced represents an optimum between the desired cooking or baking result and the cooking or baking time.
Another embodiment offers an advantage since it allows a sensitive adjustment of the temperature in the oven. Accordingly, the difference between the desired and actual value or variance from the desired value relating to the temperature and/or humidity content can be kept low.
Another embodiment is such that the humidity value can be rapidly adapted to different production stages and a cooking or baking process optimised.
There are also advantages to be had from an embodiment in which the entire cooking or baking process can be monitored. This means above all that the entire cooking or baking process can be continuously and constantly monitored so that, depending on the cooking or baking time and depending on the sensitivity of the foodstuff to be cooked or the products to be baked, the timing between the individual points at which the actual value of the humidity and/or temperature and/or cooking time and/or difference is detected can be universally adapted to suit different applications.
With a further embodiment, it is also possible to detect the setting of the temperature and/or the humidity temperature and/or the humidity and the difference between them and a related desired value depending on the duration of the cooking or baking process.
The design of the control device enables sensitive monitoring but also allows the cooking or baking process to be regulated.
The options for selecting how the fluid is introduced have an advantage in that they allow adaptation to the desired change in humidity in the oven.
In accordance with yet another embodiment, the invention provides a simple means of producing an even humidity and/or temperature across the entire volume of the oven.
The objective of the invention is also achieved by constantly monitoring the actual values of the humidity and temperature in the oven and by constantly comparing them in order to establish any variance from the desired values. In this manner the cooking or baking process can be universally adapted to produce a favorable finished result from the cooking or baking process.
The invention can also offer advantages since monitoring the difference between the desired and actual values means that the variance of the actual value from the desired value can be kept to a minimum, so that external conditions such as fluctuations in the input of the power supply to the heating device as well as different quantities loaded in the oven for example, and of course differences in the humidity and/or temperature of the foodstuffs or bakery products being cooked or baked, can be taken into account in a simple, fully automated manner, without the need for extra work processes.
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Alston & Bird LLP
Becker Drew
Hendricks Keith
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