CA2478927A1

CA2478927A1 - A method for manufacturing refrigerated or frozen dough for chinese deep fried dough or bread stick

Info

Publication number: CA2478927A1
Application number: CA002478927A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Yonggang Y.Z. Zhang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-09-30
Filing date: 2004-09-30
Publication date: 2006-03-30

Abstract

A method of manufacturing "ready-to-cook" frozen or refrigerated dough for Chinese deep fried bread stick ("Youtiao" in Chinese) is disclosed. It includes combining baking soda, baking powder, alum, salt, leavener, flour and water to form a dough; kneading the dough to distribute all the ingredients evenly; developing the dough to form gluten; and then sheeting and cutting the dough into strips. The dough sheet and strips are either packaged with vacuum for storage in refrigerators, or packaged without vacuum for storage in freezers.

Description

A Method For Manufacturing Refrigerated Or Frozen Dough For Chinese Deep Fried Dough Or Bread Stick Background This invention relates to a method of manufacturing refrigerated or frozen dough for Chinese deep fried dough or bread stick. The deep fried dough or bread stick is a kind of Chinese traditional snack, and one of the most popular snacks in China. It is termed "Youtiao" in Chinese. It is produced by preparing dough, sheeting and cutting the dough into strips, and then deep-frying with cooking oil l0 maintained at a temperature range between 130 and 170 °C.
In general, it is desirable for the stick to have both the crispy mouth feel touch proper to outside of the stick, and the soft texture mouth feel touch of its inside. Such combined mouth feel touch is present usually in the stick immediately after frying.
In China, the deep-fried dough or bread stick is a popular snack, especially for breakfast. However, since it is difficult to prepare the dough, people normally go to a nearby snack bar or restaurants to buy it rather than to cook it at home. Even in modern China, where the ready-made flour for the deep fried dough or bread stick is available in supermarkets, it is still rare for people to buy the flour, and prepare and cook the stick at home, because it will still take several hours to prepare and develop the dough with the flour before frying.
Abroad (outside of China in general); the deep fried dough or bread stick is normally not served at Chinese restaurants because it is too expensive to have such a kind of snack at restaurants from the view of consumers, and the profit margin is too low to sell it at an acceptable price from the point of view of restaurant owners. Therefore, the deep fried dough or bread stick is normally only available in supermarkets. However, when the stick is sold in a supermarket, it cannot be offered in the fresh fried state, because normally at least several hours, even a day, have elapsed since being fried. As a result, the crispy mouth feel touch and the taste of the stick is lowered.

-2-Therefore, it is necessary to provide a method for providing ready-to-cook dough for the stick so that the consumer may just open the package and put the dough into cooking oil, and have the fresh fried sticks within a few minutes.
Detailed descn~tion of the invention The invention relates to refrigerated or frozen dough for Chinese deep fried dough or bread stick, or Chinese deep-fried wand of dough. In case of confusion with the product name in English, the term "Youtiao" in Chinese should be used.
There is no definite formula for the dough, and people usually make the dough in accordance with their own experience. By collecting and testing all the formulae found in literature, the traditional formula of the dough may be stated as follows.
Ingredients Percent By weight (approx.) Flour 55-61 Water 33-4a Sodium Carbonate (NaZC03) 0.6-1.4 Edible Alum (A1K(S04) 2 .12H20) 1.2-2.1 Salt 0.7-2.6 With such a formula, the following chemical reactions are expected during preparing, developing and cooking the dough. When mixed with water, flour becomes a cohesive, resilient body of dough.
Under the reaction of added leavener, the gluten protein from the flour forms a resilient, extensible matrix. At the same time, dextrose, alcohol and carbon dioxide, together with some organic acid and ester, are produced.
(C6HmOs)" +nHzO lasvner .~nC~H~206 C6H,ZO6 '~2CZH50H+2C02 T
nsx,mrv.~r . ,.arm eeaawn~y.~-,~wr~~"."A,.,~~~usdrwusxn°.~~...
~w~c~~aau~ruana~uc'~c~d~~~'~~~aa gar",~,.fz.~aeu~ww~~..~x~:asesm~n.~"

-3-RCOOH + CZ HSOH H RCOOCZHS + HZO
The COZ forms holes or voids in the dough and, as a result, rises and expands the dough. More C02 can be produced by adding Na2C03.
2RCOOH + Na2 C03 = 2RCOONa + COZ T +Hz0 Naz C03 + H20 = NaHC03 + NaOH
During flying, NaHC03 may dissolve to form more CO2, and thus create more expansion.
2NaHC03 Hea~NaZC03+CO, 1'+HZO
The byproduct NaOH may deteriorate the taste of the stick to some extent.
Therefore, alum is added to neutralize NaOH.
2A1K(S04)2 ~ 12H20 + 6NaOH = 2A1(OH)3 + 3Na2S04 +KZS04 + 24H20 In the traditional formula, the ratio of the added alum to the added sodium carbonate is a key factor for the stick. In general, a ratio of 2:1 is preferred.
2~
Although the traditional formula provides the best taste for the stick, it has been criticized as an unhealthy formula because the final product contains a high content of aluminum. Aluminum is usually considered to be a harmful element in the human body. Effort has been made to modify the formula in order to reduce the content of aluminum in the stick. However, no proper solution has been found to replace alum in the stick because the taste of the stick is always lowered to some extent without the addition of alum. Therefore, a proper balance between the taste of the stick and the content of aluminum in the stick has to be achieved. By trial;, therefore, an alternative formula

-4-has been tested, and a significant reduction of the content of aluminum in the stick has been achieved without lowering the taste of the stick. In the formula, sodium carbonate is replaced by baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder, and the details of the formula are as follows.
Ingredients Percent By weight (approx.) Flour 55-61 Water 33-43 Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHC03) 0-0.81 Baking Powder 0-0.81 Edible Alum (AlK(S04) 2.12H20) 0.10-0.36 Salt 0.7-2..6 Baking powder is a combination of baking soda plus a few other things, most importantly a dry acid.
When the baking powder is mixed in dough with water, the dry acid and the baking soda can react together and release carbon dioxide. Specifically, the baking powder containing slower-acting acid reacts slowly at room temperature, and releases more of the gas when heated.
This is more desirable for Chinese deep fried dough or stick because it requires release of the gas only when it is heated up (during deep fry).
The ingredients shown above are mixed for preparing the dough as shown in Figure 1. Since alum is normally supplied in a granular form, it needs to be dissolved before mixing with flour and other ingredients. In the method, therefore, first the alum is dissolved into hot water. Salt may be added after the water has been cooled down to 30 °C by adding cool water. The flour, baking soda and baking powder are all in a powder form, and therefore they may be evenly mixed together by mixing and stirring. Then, the prepared water containing alum and salt is added, mixed, stirred and kneaded to form the dough. The dough needs to stand for a half of hour to develop the gluten of the dough.
Two more kneading processes should be applied at intervals of 30 minutes to make the ingredients evenly distributed in the dough. Each of the kneading processes may take approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Then, let the dough stand for two hours to develop. Tests have showed that the two-hour

-5-period is the most ideal period for the dough to develop. Too long or too short a period all resulted in insufficient expansion of the final dough when it is fried. The reason for this is presumably that the dough does not develop sufficiently if the time is too short, and too much gas might be lost if the time is too long.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a method fo:r preparing "ready-to-cook" dough for the deep fried dough or bread stick, and the dough prepared this way can be stored for a period of a month or longer, so that the dough may be sold in supermarkets. For such a purpose, the dough may be preserved either in a refrigerator as refrigerated dough, or in a freezer as frozen dough.
The packaging process includes the sheeting, cutting and packaging of the dough. Commercially available dough sheeting equipment may be used to sheet the dough down to a thickness between 5 and 25 mm, and a width between 50 and 150 mm. Then, the prepared dough sheet is lightly oiled on both surfaces, and then the dough sheet is cut into strips, according to the following size:
Length Width Thickness 50-150 mm 10-40 mm 5-25 mm The edge of the cutting blade, which is used to cut the dough sheet, is lightly oiled so that the strips will not stick together during the packaging process.
The dough sheet and strips may be packaged for storage. For refrigerated dough, tests showed that a black substance formed on the surface of the dough in two to three; days if the dough is not packaged with a vacuum. The black substance is presumably a product of the reaction of the baking soda with water and air. Therefore, the refrigerated dough must be packaged with vacuum and kept below 5 °C.
Such packed dough may be kept in refrigerators for two weeks, without any spoilage.
For frozen dough, tests showed that if the package is sealed properly, a vacuum is not necessary and the dough may be kept in freezers at a temperature below -10 °C for a period as long as two months

-6-without any spoilage.
The packaged dough is ready for sale in supermarkets. When the dough is going to be deep-fried, the refrigerated dough may be immediately fried in cooking oil kept at a temperature between 130 -170 °C after the package is opened and the dough sheet or strip is removed. For the frozen dough, however, a period of four hours or longer is needed for defrosting the frozen dough at room temperature ( around 20 °C) before it can be deep-fried. It should be emphasized that the dough can only be deep-fried when the dough is completely defrosted, whereas partially defrosted dough is inhibited for frying because it might cause an explosion and splashing of the cooking oil. A better practice is to remove the frozen dough from the freezer and to place it in the refrigerator, and where it can be kept overnight, or for a period of 12 hours or longer, so that it is completely defrosted before it is fried.
Description of the drawings t5 Figure 1 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure of tile refrigerated or frozen dough for Chinese deep-fried dough or bread stick ("Youtiao" in Chinese).
Examples of The Invention The present invention will now be illustrated with examples. It should be noted that these examples are not intended for limiting the invention.
In the following, the first group of examples illustrate the trial formulae, and the second group of examples demonstrate the packaging tests.
Many formula trials were tested, and some of the tests are shown in Table 1.

_' Table 1 N~C03 P a g Alura Comment No (~'~'t~%) (wt.%) Month Feel Taste (wt.%) 1 0.81 - 0.81 Too hard Good 2 0.81 - 0.46 Soft and Crispy Better 3 0.35 0.46 0.23 Hard and Crispy Good 4 0.4b 0.35 0.23 Soft and Crispy Best - 0.81 0.81 Soft and Less Crispy Good It is noted that the most important ingredients in the formulae are baking soda., baking powder and alum. It appears that baking soda and baking powder may, to some extent, replace each other.
5 However, a proper combination of these two may provide the best mouth feel as well as the best taste. For example, Test No. 4 in Table 1 appears to give the best result.
Alum appears not only to affect the mouth feel, but also the taste. Too much addition of alum appears to make the stick too hard, but too little addition of alum not only makes the stick less crispy but also deteriorates the taste to some extent.
l0 Many packaging tests were conducted, and some of the tests are listed in Table 2.
Table 2 No Dou h Vacuum pDaod Comment g ( Y) 1 RefrigeratedNo 2 Black substance occurred 2 RefrigeratedYes 14 No spoilage 3 RefrigeratedYes 21 Slight spoilage 4 RefrigeratedYes 28 Obvious spoilage 5 Frozen Yes 90 No spoilage 6 Frozen No 30 No spoilage

7 Frozen No 60 No spoilage ., "m w .. tt .WC. p.,.,R,.
~%2u..'F:~t.~'_..~::.~qCkl~"~?ø7~2~x.:.EZ=~~"'~#a~a.~.rvA ~.~"r',r:::~pFtS..~, '3A.;: :~f;, .:. . *,5'3:m~Aw::Y.A=~ . c"w -n Gk~ _Yt~i~'~uFS~.l~am~wmeo-sr~vmv.. -. .m~ mmswi~~d4 ~

_$_ There seems to be little problem with the dough stored in freezers if the package is properly sealed, and vacuum is not required in the package. In contrast, however, for the dough stored in refrigerators, vacuum packaging is required to prevent the dough from spoilage during a reasonably long period, such as a minimum of two weeks.
Although the invention has been described with some examples, it should be noted that various modifications and variations could be easily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure should be interpreted as illustrative only, and is not to be interpreted in any limited sense. The present invention is limited only by the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing "ready-to-cook" frozen or refrigerated dough for Chinese deep fried dough or bread stick ("Youtiao" in Chinese), which includes:
(1) mixing and dissolving alum and salt with water, and mixing baking soda, baking powder, leavener and flour, and then combining them all together to form the dough;
(2) kneading and developing the dough for a while;
(3) sheeting and cutting the dough to strips;
(4) finally, packaging the dough sheet or strips with vacuum and storing it in refrigerators, or packaging the dough sheet or strips without vacuum and storing it in freezers.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the alum is dissolved in hot water first, and then salt is added after the water is cooled down to a temperature of 30 °C.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein ingredients in powder forms, such as baking soda, baking powder and leavener, are mixed with flour and distributed evenly in the flour by stirring.

4. The prepared solution described in claim 2 and the prepared flour in claim 3 are mixed together to form the dough.

5. The dough formed as in claim 4 contains baking soda in an amount of 0.85 wt.% or less based on a total weight of the dough.

6. The dough formed as in claim 4 contains baking powder in an amount of 0.85 wt.% or less based on a total weight of the dough.

7. The dough formed as in claim 4 contains alum in an amount of 0.40 wt.% or less based on a total weight of the dough.

8. In the dough formed as in claim 4, baking soda and baking powder may be replaced by sodium carbonate in accordance to the traditional formula.

9. The traditional formula as in claim 8 contains sodium carbonate in an amount of 0.6-1.4 wt.%
based on a total weight of the dough.

10. The traditional formula as in claim 8 contains alum in an amount of 1.0-2.1 wt.% based on a total weight of the dough.

11. The dough formed as in claim 4 is kneaded at least twice, each kneading process taking about 5 to 10 minutes, in time intervals of 30 minutes, in order to make all the ingredients distribute evenly in the dough.

12. Let the kneaded dough as in claim 11 stand and develop for 2 hours to allow the dough to develop gluten.

13. The developed dough as in claim 12 is sheeted, using commercially available dough sheeting equipment, to a dough sheet which has a thickness of 5-25 mm and a width of 80-150 mm.

14. The dough sheet as in claim 13 is cut into strips using an oiled blade, and the strip has a size of 80-150 mm long, 10-40 mm wide and 5-25 mm thick.

15. The dough sheet or strips as in claims 13 and 14 may be packaged in a pressurized (vacuumed) container and stored in refrigerators.

16. Alternatively, the dough sheet or strips as in claims 13 and 14 may be packaged in a container without vacuum, but properly sealed and stored in freezers.

17. The packaged dough as in claims 15 and 16 may stand for 2 hours before being stored in refrigerators or freezers.

18. The packaged dough as in claims 15 and 16 may be opened, and the dough is removed manually and then deep-fried in cooking oil.

19. The cooking oil as in claim 18 is kept at a temperature between 130 and 170 °C during the frying.

20. The frying as in claim 18 takes 1 minute or longer until the stick turns to golden color.