Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-28
2002-11-12
Corbin, Arthur L. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S560000, C426S808000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06479090
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the production of baked wheat-based snacks having a chip-like crispy texture and surface bubbles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cohesive, machinable doughs which can be sheeted, stretched, and cut into pieces may be produced at room temperature when the doughs possess a high content of wheat or other gluten-containing flour. The baking of conventional wheat-based doughs into crackers provides a lamellar structure with generally uniform small cells and a tender, mealy, leavened texture. Upon mastication, the conventional crackers generally disperse more rapidly than does a chip. They do not provide a crunchy texture and a sensation of breaking into pieces with low molar compaction before dispersion as does a chip. Additionally, crackers are generally dockered to prevent pillowing and to provide a generally flat bottom surface and a blistered top surface. Oyster or soup crackers and snack crackers which have a pillowed appearance may be produced from wheat-based doughs by the elimination of dockering holes. However, these products still possess a leavened, tender, mealy texture and a cracker appearance, rather than a crisp, crunchy chip-like texture and chip-like appearance.
Filled baked crackers or snacks obtained by needle injection of fillings into hollow expanded snacks made from wheat flour are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,536 to Dogliotti, U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,508 to Shishido, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,493 to Moriki, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,968 to Szwerc et al. Production of a chip-like snack having surface bubbles and surrounding crisp, thin regions is not disclosed in these patents. The doughs are formulated and processed to retain a puffed or pillowed shape after piercing of the baked/hollow piece.
A cellular structure is obtained by the use of egg white in the shell of the pastry product of U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,536 to Dogliotti.
In the process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,508 to Shishido, hard dough biscuits are prepared by baking a dough having 10-30 parts by weight of sugar, 10-25 parts by weight of edible fat or oil, 1.5-4.0% leavening agent, and 20-35 parts by weight of water per 100 parts by weight of cereal flour to obtain a degree of leavening of at least 280%.
The baked hollow expanded snacks in the form of a figure such as an animal or vehicle of U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,493 to Moriki are produced from a farinaceous raw mixture. The raw mixture is prepared by mixing from 60-95 parts by weight of at least one low swelling-capacity farinaceous material and 40-5 parts by weight of at least one high swelling-capacity farinaceous material. The low swelling-capacity material may be a non-glutinous cereal such as wheat, rye, maize, non-glutinous rice, sago, sorghum, triticale, millet and beans, or starches separated from these sources. The high swelling-capacity material may be potato, taro, tapioca, arrowroot, sweet potato, glutinous rice, waxy corn, or starches derived from these sources having their cell walls broken. The farinaceous raw mixture is partly gelatinized prior to rolling into a smooth sheet by the addition of hot water or by the action of steam, so as to raise the temperature of the farinaceous raw mixture to 65° C. to 90° C. According to Moriki, upon baking, the starch in the surface of the dough pieces is gelatinized, thereby forming a skin having good gas-holding capacity and excellent stretchability. Water and volatile materials in the dough pieces push the skin outward upon heating, so that the dough pieces expand and are internally split into two layers or shells, forming a hollow space therebetween.
The filled crackers of U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,968 to Szwerc et al. are produced from a dough containing proteolytic enzymes. The enzymes hydrolyze proteins of the flour, which relaxes the dough and thereby permits a hollow center to be formed, rather than a cellular center, as the cracker expands under the influence of the leavening agent during baking. This, it is disclosed, strengthens the shell of the cracker and permits the cracker to be filled by means of an injection needle piercing the surface of the cracker.
The production of chip-like, starch-based snacks having a crispy texture and surface blisters from starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, such as potato flour or corn flour, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al. Starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, when mixed with water, do not form a dough that is cohesive at room Temperature and continuously machinable or sheetable. Machinability of doughs made from ingredients having little or no gluten may be improved by forming a dough under elevated temperature conditions, such as by steaming the ingredients, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al.
In the process of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al, use of a pregelatinized waxy starch provides for the production of cohesive, extensible, continuously machinable doughs from starchy materials or ingredients having starch with no or low gluten. These machinable doughs may be formed at room temperatures without the need for steaming or heat treatment to develop cohesiveness, extensibility, and machinability.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,303 and 4,994,295 to Holm et al disclose that in the production of fabricated snack products having controlled surface bubbling, the dough sheet must have cohesive properties which permit the surface or surfaces of the dough or preform to stretch relatively uniformly when forming bubbles during frying. The highly cohesive, non-adhesive dough, it is disclosed, can be made by adjusting the quantity of free gelatinized starch, the degree of retrogradation of the starch (thereby affecting the water absorption of a given quantity of the starch), and the concentration of any starch-complexing emulsifiers present. In the Holm et al process, a dough may be formed comprising, e.g., potato solids or corn solids, raw or pregelatinized starches, modified starches, flavorings, oils, and the like. For producing potato snacks, the preferred major ingredient in the potato dough is a dehydrated potato flake with high water-absorption capability. The dry ingredients are placed in a mixer and blended with water to obtain a dough having a moisture content of from about 30% to about 55%. According to Holm et al., higher moisture content means higher oil absorption during frying. It is further disclosed that doughs containing less than about 30% moisture are generally too dry, after the Holm et al. drying step, to create adequate bubbles. In the Holm et al. process, substantial moisture reduction of the dough is achieved by frying. During frying, the dough moisture content of about 30% to about 55% is reduced to obtain a fried product with a moisture content of about 1-2%.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,569 to Ivers discloses that in the production of a dough-based fried food product, a processed starch in either gelatinized or ungelatinized form is frequently added when a low-starch flour or flake is employed. Water, it is disclosed, is required to soften the flour, and depending upon the protein content of the flour, to form a network of protein (gluten), which is the framework of the product. According to Ivers, starch, which is present in flours, is used as a binder and is required for the unleavened product to expand upon frying. Dough stickiness and hardness of the cooked product may be controlled by the addition of oil to the dough to control the extent of the protein framework. The dough is prepared by adjusting the ratios of components and the mixing time to allow it to sheet uniformly at the desired thickness without sticking or tearing. According to Ivers, addition of a small amount of a lecithin-in-water suspension to the formulation of the dough-based fried snack foods improves the transfer, sheeting and cutting, and significantly reduces clumping during frying, without the rapid buildup of free fatty acids and without
Carey Julia M.
Dzurenko Theresa E.
Levine Harry
McHugh Kevin
Moisey Mark J.
Corbin Arthur L.
Hollander Law Firm, P.L.C.
Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.
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