Shelf stable batter article and method of preparation

Details Shelf stable batter article and method of preparation Shelf stable batter article and method of preparation

1999-09-17

2001-05-01

Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)

Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products

Packaged or wrapped product

Packaged product is dough or batter or mix therefor

C426S392000, C426S399000, C426S410000, C426S552000, C426S558000, C426S561000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06224924

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to packaged food articles and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to articles comprising a gas-impermeable container and a starch based batter for baked goods that are storage stable at room temperature.
BACKGROUND
Baked goods such as brownies, cakes, cookies, and muffins are popular consumer snack food and dessert food items. A wide variety of recipes are currently available for use by consumers to prepare small quantities of baked goods from various ingredients.
For greater convenience and shelf stability, dry mixes for baked goods have long been available. The consumer mixes the dry mix with liquid ingredients such as water, milk, oil and/or eggs to form a batter. The batter is then immediately poured into a baking pan and baked to form the finished baked goods.
Useful developments in the formulation of dry mixes for baked goods continue to be made. For example, an improved dry mix for brownies is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/929,827 filed Sep. 15, 1997 by Palmer et al entitled “Dry Mix for Baked Goods with Gellan Gum and Method of Preparation” (which is incorporated herein by reference). The dry mixes for brownies disclosed therein include gellan gum in addition to other ingredients. The dry mixes not only are useful for preparing low fat, high quality finished baked goods by consumers for home use, but also can be used for the large scale production of finished baked goods suitable for refrigerated sales and distribution. While the formulation for the dry mix is improved, the dry mixes are packaged in a conventional manner in a sealed bag placed in a conventional carton.
While dry mixes for home use are convenient, current trends for consumer package food products favor products of even greater convenience. The present invention provides improved products of greater convenience. The present invention provides articles comprising ready-to-bake batters that are shelf stable and can be stored at room temperatures for extended periods of time.
Refrigerated ready-to-bake batters having relatively short shelf lives are also known. One concern with such products is bacterial growth. A second problem resides in providing a leavening system that retains functionality over extended storage. Acidifying the batter desirably extends bacterial stability. However, the acidity undesirably tends to interact with the leavening system. With poor leavening, the finished baked goods exhibit undesirable volume and poor texture.
The present invention provides ready-to-bake batters for finished baked goods that are stable even at room temperature. The present articles thus provide the benefits combination of shelf stability of conventional dry mixes with the greater convenience of ready-to-bake batters.
Shelf stable batters for finished baked articles are commercially available, for example, in France made as described in EP 868,850 A published Oct. 7, 1998. Such articles comprise an impermeable flexible membrane pouch containing a batter comprising a CO
2
gas producing leavening system and an inert gas atmosphere.
The present invention resides in part in the surprising discovery that a CO
2
gas producing leavening agent is not an essential ingredient in the present packaged ready-to-bake batters.
The present invention provides improvements in those articles described in U.S. Ser. No. 09/322,208 (filed May 28, 1999) entitled “Shelf Stable Brownie Batter Article and Method of Preparation” which is incorporated herein by reference. The improvement resides in important part in the surprising discovery that expanded finished baked goods such as layer cakes, quick breads, muffins, pancakes, etc, can be provided from shelf stable batters articles even though such batter articles are substantially free of conventional CO
2
gas producing leavening agents.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In its product aspect, the present invention resides in shelf stable ready-to-bake batter articles that provide improved finished baked goods but do not require refrigeration. The articles comprise an unpressurized gas impermeable container, a neutral pH, low water activity, batter that is substantially free of conventional CO
2
gas producing leavening agents disposed within the container and an inert low oxygen gas or gases in the headspace not filled by the batter.
The batter essentially comprises sugar, flour, water and the balance of conventional batter ingredients such as starches, flavors (e.g., chocolate), egg or egg solids, fat, humectants, gums, salt, etc. The sugar to flour ratio ranges from 2.5:1 to about 0.5:1. The water activity is less than 0.85. The pH ranges from about 6.0 to 8.0. The headspace inert gas has an oxygen content of less than 4%, preferably less than 2%. N
2
O essentially comprises at least a portion of the headspace inert gas. The batter is substantially free of conventional CO
2
gas producing leavening agents. The batter has incorporated therein sufficient amounts of N
2
O gas to provide a batter having a density of about 0.7 to 1.1 g/cc.
In its process aspect, the present invention is directed to processes for making a ready-to-bake batter article that is shelf stable at room temperature. The process comprising the steps of:
providing an open sealable, gas impermeable container;
dispensing a farinaceous batter within at least a portion of the container, said farinaceous batter comprising:
about 20 to 70% sugar
about 10 to 40% flour
about 0 to 5% egg solids
about 0.1 to 3% salt
about 0 to 4% emulsifiers
about 0 to 25.1% fat
about 5 to 30% moisture
said batter having a sugar to flour ratio of about 2.5:1 to 0.5:1
a water activity of less than 0.85
a pH of about 6 to 8.0;
said batter being substantially free of any conventional CO
2
gas producing leavening agents, and
said batter having sufficient amounts of N
2
O to provide the batter having a density of about 0.7 to 1.0 g/cc;
filling the headspace portion of the container that is unfilled with the batter with an inert gas having an oxygen content of less then 4% at least a portion of which is N
2
O;
sealing the container the form a shelf stable ready-to-use batter article.


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