CH621047A5 - Process for the manufacture of a patisserie product - Google Patents

Abstract

The product comprises a slice of sweet bread covered with chocolate and soaked in a sweet alcoholic aqueous liquor in a high proportion of at least one part by weight for each part by weight of the bread. The product is stable and has a long shelf-life. The process comprises the following operations: (i) make a bread dough from wheat flour, sugar, natural yeast, added proteins and water in which: - the added proteins amount to 20-30% of the weight of the flour - 1/3 to 2/3 of the added proteins comprise gluten, part live and part devitalised, -the devitalised gluten accounts for between 1/5 and 2/5 of the added proteins, (ii) leave the said dough to rise in thin sheets with an initial thickness of no more than 1 cm until 40 to 60% of the rising process is completed; (iii) cook the risen dough in an oven; (iv) soak the sheet of bread thus obtained with a sweet alcoholic aqueous liquor in a proportion of at least 1 part by weight of liquor to 1 part by weight of bread so as to add at least 35 cc of ethyl alcohol and at least 25 g of sugar to each 100 g of bread, the said sugar comprising saccharose and/or glucose; (v) cut the impregnated bread into slices (14A, 14B) and (vi) completely coat the slices with melted chocolate (12) containing at least 30 % by weight of food fat. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a pastry product.

The term "bread" refers to the product obtained by baking a leavened dough of wheat flour and water in the oven. The term "sweet bread" means that a sweetening ingredient has been added to the dough, such as common sugar (sucrose), honey or other.

The most varied types of bread are known in the art, obtained by kneading together multiple ingredients and making the dough rise with natural yeasts (i.e. those formed by living cells), chemical yeasts or other means. It is also known that the dough may contain added protein substances; the addition of proteins is typical for example in diet products. A common source of added protein is egg yolks; in fact, it is known that an egg yolk contains on average about 17% by weight of proteins, about 32% by weight of fats and about 50% of water. In addition, there are commercially available protein concentrates of various origins, intended for baked goods. A typical source of protein in diet products is gluten. It is known that gluten is normally present in cereal flours in general. Wheat flours for bakeries and pastry shops typically contain 8-9% by weight of gluten, and it is known that in the absence of gluten it would be practically impossible to obtain the typical spongy structure of the bread. However, to improve the structure of the bread, "vitalized" gluten is normally required; the "devitalized" one (obtained by drying at high temperature) has poor hydration power, poor cohesion and elasticity, and these negative characteristics make it useless in the baking technique.

The process according to the invention is characterized by the operations of:

(i) form a bread dough of wheat flour, sugar, natural yeast, proteins added to water, in which:

- the added proteins amount to 20-30% of the weight of the flour,

- Yi up to% of the added proteins are made up of gluten, partly vital and partly devitalized,

- the devitalized gluten content is from 1/0 to% of the added proteins;

(ii) raising the said dough in a thin layer, with an initial thickness not exceeding 1 cm, up to a value from 40% to 60% of the full leavening capacity;

(iii) baking the leavened dough in the oven;

(iv) impregnate the sweet bread carpet thus obtained with a sugar alcoholic aqueous liqueur in a proportion of at least 1 part by weight of liqueur per 1 part by weight of the bread, to thus provide at least 35 cc of ethyl alcohol and at least 25 g of sugar for every 100 g of the bread, said sugar being made up of sucrose and / or glucose;

(v) cutting the impregnated carpet into slices, and

(vi) coating the slices completely with melted chocolate containing at least 30% by weight of edible fat.

Advantageously, the baking operation (iii) comprises a first baking stage carried out by heating from the outside, and a terminal cooking stage at reduced temperature by dielectric heating until the moisture content of the bread mat thus obtained is reduced to a value not higher than 21% (preferably not higher than 20%). Thereby, the absorption and retention of the liqueur are substantially improved. Preferably, the baking by dielectric heating is regulated so that the temperature of the bread mat is between 100 ° C and 110 ° C, preferably from 102 ° C to 105 ° C. To facilitate the elimination of humidity in this stage, it is advantageous to puncture the upper face of the bread mat obtained in the first baking stage.

Numerous confectioners manufacture, on an artisanal scale and for practically immediate consumption, cakes and similar pastry products to which, after cooking, a small quantity of a liqueur, usually maraschino, has been added

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or rum. The result is a product which, in addition to having a pleasant aroma and flavor to many consumers, also has the advantage of having an increased moisture content which

10 makes it more palatable than an identical product to which no liquor has been added. Compared to the "bread" component, the quantity of liquor added is in any case the minimum necessary, generally less than 30% by weight of the bread, inter alia because greater additions do not improve

11 product; on the contrary, with more than 50% addition of liquor the product softens and loses all attraction. On the other hand, in all known cases, shelf life amounts to only a few days. It can be increased by sterilizing the product in an airtight flexible plastic laminate wrapper, so as to prevent molding; with this, however, the product as such is in any case relatively "dry" in the mouth and does not accept more than 50% of liqueur (compared to bread) without pulping.

At this point it is evident to the expert person that sweet bread as defined herein before, constitutes a new class of pastry products. In fact, with the sugar liqueur content which amounts to at least 100% by weight with respect to the "bread" component and which typically amounts to 130-150% by weight, said bread is no longer a "wet cake" of the prior art but rather a liquid saturated product. Nonetheless, the cellular structure of the "bread" component in the said cake has surprising stability and the cake can be stored for several months without deteriorating (naturally with the usual precautions valid in the pastry sector). The cupcake therefore takes on the appearance of a real "industrial product", which can be distributed over long distances and can be successfully sold after weeks or months.

The claimed method is explained by means of embodiments of the invention described in the following pages.

In the attached drawings:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cupcake obtained according to the invention;

fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section according to line 2-2 of fig. 1;

fig. 3 is a section similar to that of fig. 2, however relating to a preferred form of cupcake;

fig. 4 illustrates the cellular structure of the bread impregnated with liqueur, contained in the cupcakes according to figs. 2

e3;

fig. 5 schematically illustrates the leavening and cooking phases;

fig. 6 schematically illustrates the phase of impregnation with the liquor; and fig. 7 is a continuation of fig. 6.

The cupcake

In the illustrated form, the cupcake 10 is a parallelepiped body, the external surface of which consists of a chocolate coating 12 which completely encloses the other constituents. According to fig. 2, the cover 12 envelops a single parallelepiped block of bread 14, obtained together with a plurality of other similar blocks by longitudinal and transversal cuts of a single "carpet" of bread of thickness S. Preferably, the thickness S does not exceed 2-2 , 5 cm so that the cupcake can be easily grasped by the consumer's mouth; again preferably, the length and width of the block of bread are about 5 cm and about 3 cm, respectively. Larger measures are not advisable since, being the bread 14 soaked in liquor, larger measures would force the consumer to use a saucer.

The quantity of liqueur amounts, as has been said, to at least 1 time the weight of the bread block 14 and can even amount to double the said weight; however, the preferred quantity is in the range of 1.3 to 1.5 times the weight of the block of bread 14. The composition of the liqueur is calculated so as to provide at least 35 cc of ethyl alcohol and at least 25 g of sugar for each 100 g of bread.

In the preferred form, illustrated in fig. 3, the block of bread is shown cut horizontally into two layers 14A, 14B, between which there is interposed a layer of cream 16 having a preferred thickness of 3-5 mm. Naturally, the two layers 14A, 14B are soaked in liqueur according to the criteria indicated above for the block 14.

The chocolate forming the cover 12 contains at least

11 30%, preferably from 33% to 35% by weight of edible fat, consisting for example of a mixture of cocoa butter and cow's butter, so as to resist well the natural tendency of the liqueur to spread through the cover. A thick covering, and of low-fat chocolate, low in butter, would annoy the bite; therefore, the coverage

12 is preferably of soft chocolate and typically has a thickness of the order of a few tenths of a millimeter. A covering of this kind is easily obtainable with the known technique of enrobage by spraying with melted chocolate.

In fig. 3, the cup is illustrated hermetically enclosed in a tubular casing 18 of thermoplastic film, of the type for food products, the ends of which are sealed by means of transverse heat-sealing 20.

Fig. 4 illustrates the typical structure which can be observed by sectioning a cupcake obtained according to the invention, that is, by considering the "bread" component soaked with about 130% of alcohol-sugar liqueur as found in the cupcake. Contrary to the prior art products, the structure of this "bread" is mainly cellular, in the sense that the predominant part of the cavities is made up of cells that are completely closed or have communication openings whose global area does not exceed 30% of the surface total cell (and typically amounts to less than 10%). This peculiarity is particularly evident with an enlargement of 30-40X linear, even if already 20X linear can be sufficient. In fig. 4, the lines indicated with 21 and 22 each constitute the outline of a cell. The wall of each of these cells is continuous and is made up of a multitude of "islands" or "atolls" 23. Each atoll is made up of a thin membrane surrounded by a frame of comparatively significant thickness. Such a membrane, seen in section, is indicated with 23 '. The communication openings, dashed in fig. 4 and indicated by 24, are nothing more than "atolls" similar to those 23, but whose membranes burst during the leavening or cooking process. Thanks to the composition of the dough and the leavening and cooking processes described below, the number of "atolls" that have broken out is small compared to the total number of atolls. From fig. 4 it is already apparent at first glance that the area occupied by the communication openings 24 in a cell is clearly less than 30% (and less than 10%) of the total cell surface. Of course, cells that are substantially torn or widely open can also occur; however, these are sporadic cases, in a clear minority. Finally, in addition to the "primary" cells, such as those 21 and 22, there are also a multitude of secondary cells, of a significantly smaller size, such as those indicated by 25 and 26. The secondary cells are difficult to open. In cell 26 a communication opening 26 'has been illustrated.

From what has been described above it is clear that the bread contained in the product according to the invention has a

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a fundamental «cellular» structure, in contrast to previously known products which have a «spongy» or even «skeletal» structure, in which only cell residues can be recognized (often very rarely). By way of illustration only, the structure of the previous products can be said to be comparable with open cell synthetic foams or with a bare skeleton of a reinforced concrete building, while the bread in the product is comparable with a closed cell synthetic foam, for

10 more equipped with openings, or with a building entirely made up of walls. It has been found that the larger the extension of the walls, the greater the retention of the liqueur and the lower the tendency for structure to decay. Furthermore, with the particular cooking process described hereinafter, the cell walls are relatively dehydrated, and therefore absorb and retain the imbibition liqueur in large part as a hydration liquid so that, at the moment of consumption, the liqueur does not drip and does not stain . In any case, the liqueur is practically all contained in the cell walls and not in the cells themselves.

The dough

The basic ingredient is wheat flour. Its typical composition (on a dry basis) is 88-92% by weight of starch and, correspondingly, 12-8% by weight of wheat gluten. Eventually, a small part (no more than 10% by weight) of the wheat flour could be replaced for example with oat or corn flour.

Commercial sugar (sucrose) is used as a sweetener. The quantity depends on the tastes and it must be kept in mind that also the liqueur that will be used for the placing of the bread will contain a certain quantity of dissolved sugars. Typically, the proportion of the mixing sugar is between about 30 kg and about 50 kg per 100 kg of flour; on average, about 40 kg per 100 kg of flour can be recommended.

Very characteristic aspects of the invention reside in the added proteins which, as we have seen, include

11 gluten and ordinary proteins. The total of added proteins amounts to 20-30 kg per 100 kg of flour. Gluten consists of about K (7 kg) up to about% (20 kg),

however, quantities ranging from about 10 kg to about 15 kg are preferred, that is, they make up about half of the total added protein. The gluten must be partly of the devitalized type. The suitable proportion of devitalized gluten fluctuates between V0 and% of the added proteins. If all the added gluten were in vital form, a dough with considerable internal elastic forces would be obtained which would make lamination difficult and, first of all, would make leavening practically ungovernable. On the other hand, excessive proportions of devitalized added gluten would lead to a product (bread) which is not very elastic and rather undesirably crumbly, with cells widely split, that is communicating with each other through openings occupying overall (on average) over the total surface (wall + openings) of a cell. For the purposes of the invention, the communication openings between a cell and the adjacent cells must be possibly small; in other words, it is desirable that the cell walls be developed as far as possible. With this structure, the bread is able to hold steadily considerable proportions of imbibition liquor.

Although the most common devitalized gluten on the market derives from wheat, devitalized gluten from another origin can also be used, for example barley, oats or corn.

Various sources exist for "ordinary" (non-gluten) added proteins. For example, an egg yolk contains on average about 17% protein, about 32% fat and about 50% water. Another source of protein is milk. Commercially, milk proteins are available as milk albumin, in powder form, whose pro-5 content is practically 100%. Milk proteins are also contained (about 36%) in low-fat milk powder. The use, for the purposes of the invention, of skimmed milk powder would be very convenient in economic terms. However, this material also contains lactose, which is easily subject to lactic fermentation. Consequently, the possible addition of skimmed milk powder to the dough must be reasonably limited (preferably not more than 5% on the weight of the flour). In practice, the added ordinary proteins preferably comprise both those of the egg yolk, and 15 those of the albumin of milk, and those in the form of skimmed milk powder.

Further ingredients of the dough, conventional in the baking technique, consist of fats and monoglycerides (fat emulsifiers). As in the common technique, also in the present invention the fats are used in the minimum necessary proportions, which ordinarily do not exceed about 5% on the weight of the flour and which typically amount to 3-4%. Therefore, the proportion of mono-glycerides is also correspondingly small. 25 Of course, flavorings can also be added to the dough, of the type currently used in oven baking.

For leavening, a natural yeast must be used, in particular beer yeast. Its protein content is not 30 among the added proteins. The quantity of yeast to be used does not differ critically from the known art. That is, allowing a sample of the dough to rise to completeness, at 30 ° C and 90% relative humidity, a volume increase of 35 should be obtained by 4-5 times. This roughly corresponds to a quantity of yeast of 5-7% on the weight of the flour, or 2-3% on the weight of the dough.

The quantity of mixing water must be regulated in a per se known way, to give a firm dough, as in the usual baking technique, naturally taking into account the fact that a not indifferent quantity of water is added by the yolks egg. By way of example, it can be said that the total amount of water present in the dough can amount to about 60 kg per 100 kg of flour, of which 45 for example 15 kg deriving from the yolks and 45 kg added as mixing water.

For example, a dough of the following composition is recommended:

1. Wheat flour 100.0 kg

50 ^

2. Proteins added:

- vital wheat gluten

- wheat gluten 55 devitalized

- fresh yolks

- milk albumin (100%)

- skimmed milk powder

60 3. Sugar 4. Brewer's yeast

6.0 kg 6.5 kg

30.0 kg (= 5 kg protein)

6.25 kg

2.5 kg (= 0.9kgprot.) 42.5 kg

6.26 kg

5. Fats, monoglycerides and flavorings 5,00 kg

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6. Mixing water 45.0 kg

Total 250.00 kg

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In this recipe, the total of added proteins amounts to 24.65 kg, ie 24.65% of the weight of the flour. The total added gluten is 12.5 kg and therefore makes up about half of the added protein. The devitalized gluten amounts to 6.5 kg and is therefore slightly higher than Vb of the added proteins.

Leavening and cooking

Referring to fig. 5 of the drawings, a dough having the above-mentioned composition is laminated in a rolling mill 27 and the dough belt 28 formed in this way is fed continuously to a leavening chamber 29 maintained at 30 ° C (± 1 ° C) and at 90% relative humidity. The thickness of the belt, measured at the exit of the rolling mill, is for example 0.5 cm. As a general rule, you can choose a thickness between about 0.3 cm and about 0.8 cm; higher thicknesses are not advisable as they could jeopardize the uniformity of leavening and as the thickness of the cooked product would become excessive.

The leavening chamber 29 could be of the tunnel type. However, an arrangement comprising several conveyor belts 30, 31, 32 distributed at various levels is preferred, so that when the conveyor passes from one conveyor to the other, the dough belt 26 overturns, in the sense that its upper face becomes lower, and viceversa. With this, the leavening takes place in an extremely uniform way throughout the thickness of the dough band 26. In practice, 5-7 reversals during the leavening are perfectly sufficient. With the last overturning, the dough belt is deposited on a belt conveyor 34, which transports the dough belt 28 through a tunnel cooking oven schematically indicated at 36, adjacent to the leavening chamber.

The residence time of the dough belt 28 in the leavening chamber is adjusted so that at the exit from the chamber the belt 28 is leavened for 40-60% (preferably around 50%) of its total leavening capacity. This corresponds to a 2-2.5-fold increase in thickness compared to the initial thickness. Thus, in the specific conditions herein exemplified herein, with a residence time of 90-120 minutes, the leavened strip leaving the chamber 29 will have a thickness of 10-12 mm.

The oven 36 is a tunnel oven, in which the material to be cooked is transported on a conveyor belt 37 with a speed of for example 2.8 m / min (4.7 cm / sec). Conventional heating means are arranged inside the oven, for example gas burners or electric resistances, adjustable so as to maintain the temperature of the atmosphere in the oven at the desired values, typically in the range 200-240 ° C. Higher values are not recommended as they would lead to a bread having an unwanted hard crust, which should be subsequently eliminated, resulting in waste and complicating the production line. With the temperature in the range 200-240 ° C, preferably 200-230 ° C, a soft bread is obtained, covered with a thin and soft skin, in substantial analogy to the well-known "sponge cake".

Firing in the tunnel oven 36 takes place due to the effect of heat brought to the material from the outside, mainly by convention and radiation. Unfortunately, with this type of baking a bread containing on average 23-25% by weight of humidity is obtained, while instead, according to the invention, it would be more advantageous to have a lower humidity content, not higher than 21% and preferably not above 20%. To obtain this result, cooking by external heat is followed by a final stage of cooking (or dehydration) by dielectric heating which, notoriously, produces heat directly inside the material involved. Therefore, a dielectric oven 38 5 is arranged downstream of the tunnel oven 36 through which the bread mat 28 'coming out of the oven 36 is advanced. In particular, the bread mat 28' is supported by a conveyor belt 39 of insulating material with low dielectric losses and is heated in the oven 38 to a temperature sufficient to produce the desired degree of dehydration in a reasonable time, but insufficient to significantly increase the degree of baking of the bread obtained from the tunnel oven 36 This temperature is preferably in the range of 100-110 ° C, typically 102-105 ° C. With higher temperatures there is a risk, among other things, of having an evaporation of the humidity too intense, such as to compromise the desired cellular structure of the bread. The material for the conveyor belt 39 is therefore chosen on the basis of the temperature indicated above. Various compositions of synthetic resins, 20 in particular of polyester resins, for example polyethylene terephthalate, are suitable for the purpose. The oven 16 further comprises, in a known way, two electrode plates 38 ', 38 ", between which the tape 39 advances with the bread mat 28'.

According to an experimented embodiment, the dielectric oven 25 can be designed as follows:

- frequency 27 MHz

- maximum power 50 kW

- field between the electrodes 20 kV (peak / peak) 30 - electrode length 1.5 meters

- oven length 2 meters.

With the advancement speed already indicated above, the residence time in the oven 38 is about 40 seconds and 35 the outgoing bread mat 28 "has a moisture content of less than 21%. Preferably, in the input end of the oven 38 hot air is blown at 75-80 ° C, while an aspirator (not shown) for the moist air is applied to the outlet end.

40 It should be noted that the bread mat 28 'leaving the tunnel oven 36 is covered with a thin "skin" which hinders evaporation in the dielectric oven 38. Therefore, according to the invention, it is convenient to puncture this skin upstream of the oven 38. In the illustrated embodiment 45 in fig. 5 the dielectric oven 38 is spaced from the tunnel oven 36 and a pair of cylinders 40,41 are arranged in the resulting space, between which the bread mat 28 'advances. The upper cylinder 40 has arrays of pins 40 'with a conical tip, having a diameter of about 1 mm, which penetrate 50 into the upper face of the bread 28' for a small depth, typically for 1-2 mm. The distribution density of the pins 40 'preferably amounts to at least 5-6 pins per dm2; already with this perforating density it is possible to obtain at the exit of the oven 38 a 28 "bread mat having less than 20% humidity, even making the oven 38 work at half power (10 kV peak / peak).

When operating in the presence of the dielectric oven 38, it was found convenient to adopt some of the following particular conditions for the tunnel oven. The heating means (for example 60 gas burners) should be governed so that a first section of the oven, corresponding to about 4-15 minutes of cooking, is at 200-230 ° C, and a subsequent section, corresponding to 10-20 minutes of cooking, it is at about 170-190 ° C. This last section 65 should be followed by an unheated terminal section, corresponding to a residence time of 2-3 minutes or more, in which the bread mat (practically already cooked, but with excess moisture content) can cool down to about 100 ° C. TO

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title of preferred embodiment, the following values can be adopted:

- for the first section, a temperature of 200-220 ° C and a length of 40 meters corresponding to a residence time of 14.3 minutes;

- for the second section, temperature of about 180 ° C and length of 30 meters corresponding to a residence time of 10.7 minutes;

- for the last section, 5 meters long corresponding to a residence time of about 2 minutes;

- feed speed 2.8 m / min.

At the exit of the dielectric oven 38, a 28 "bread mat having a thickness of 24-26 mm is obtained, which is cooled by means not shown in the drawings to a temperature no higher than about 30 ° C. pane typically has a uniformly developed cell structure, consisting essentially of primary cells of sizes varying between about 1 mm and about 2 mm, separated from each other by substantially intact microporous walls. In the spaces between the primary cells there are secondary cells, of varying sizes between about 0.3 and about 0.6 mm. Any communication openings between a cell and the surrounding cells typically have diameters ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 mm and occupy less than 10% of the cell surface overall. they are easily detectable with a magnification of about 30 times. The bread does not show any tendency to crumble; on the contrary, to compression, recovery and lastico is very high, not less than 85%, but without the bread giving the sensation of "chewiness" when chewing. The density of the bread (with the data exemplified here before) is 0.17 g / cc.

Fig. 6 constitutes an extension of fig. 5. In the passage from fig. 5 to fig. 6 the bread mat 28 ", which has a width of about 80 cm, is dragged between rollers 42, 42 '. Exactly on the centerline between the said rollers a blade 43 slits the bread mat 28" into two layers 28A, 28B, each having half the thickness of the carpet 28 ".

The upper layer 28A, the upper surface of which is constituted by the "skin" mentioned above, travels first towards the front on a belt conveyor 44 and then is sent backwards onto a conveyor 46, whereby the portion of bread which is located on the latter conveyor freely exposes its cellular structure upwards. The lower layer 28B, after forming a compensation loop 47, is conveyed forward on a belt conveyor 48, on which it exposes its cellular structure upwards.

The liquor and the impregnation Above the conveyor 46, several spray tubes 50 are arranged transversely, each having a plurality of spray orifices directed downwards, for example an orifice every 4-5 cm. Identical spray hoses 50 'are arranged above an initial section of the conveyor 48. In the case of fig. 6 shows two pipes 50 and two pipes 50 '. The mutual distance of the two tubes 50 corresponds to about half a minute of travel of the bread layer 28A; likewise, the mutual distance of the tubes 50 'corresponds to about half a minute of travel of the layer of bread 28B. With the speed here exemplified (2.8 m / min), the said distances each amount to about 1.4 m. Of course, this is a convenient but not mandatory arrangement. The fact is that the liqueur sprayed onto the bread layer from a first tube has sufficient time to be absorbed by the layer before the layer itself receives an additional amount of liquor from the second tube.

The "liqueur" is a solution of water, sugar and an alcoholic distillate with a pleasant taste and aroma, typically rum. The liqueur must provide at least 35 cc of ethyl alcohol and at least 25 g of sugar for every 100 g of bread. Since ethyl alcohol limits the solubility of sugar in water, it is evident that the upper limits of the sugar and alcohol content automatically result from the solubility relationship. For example, a suitable liqueur can be obtained by dissolving 20 kg of sugar in 40 kg of water and adding 40 kg of commercial rum at 60% by volume of alcohol. Each gram of liqueur thus formed therefore contains 0.21 g of alcohol, 0.20 g of sugar and 0.584 g of water. Its density is around 1.05 g / cc.

With the data here exemplified, 1 cm of current length of each of the two layers of bread 28A, 28B (fig. 6) weighs 16.3 g. Assuming that the two layers advance each with a linear speed of 2.8 m / min (= 4.7 cm / sec), it appears that under each of the spray tubes 50.50 'in a second 76 g of bread advance. To have an impregnation of 135 g of liqueur per 100 g of bread, 103 g / sec of liqueur prepared as above must therefore be sprayed on each of the two layers 28A, 28B. Thus every 100 g of bread will receive 37 cc of alcohol and 27 g of sugar, according to the invention. The feeding of the aforesaid 103 g / sec of liqueur (per layer) must be divided between the two tubes 50, respectively 50 '. A convenient distribution can be that of feeding the first of the tubes 50 with about 40 g sec of liquor and the second tube 50 with about 60 g / sec of liquor; the same applies to the two 50 'hoses. When the layers of bread 28A, 28B are relatively thin (for example less than 1 cm), a single tube 50 and a single tube 50 'is sufficient. After impregnation, the bread layer 28A is sent forward again around the roller 46 'of the conveyor 46 to proceed in the same direction as the layer 28B and to flow into the latter.

Final operations Immediately upstream of the confluence zone of the two layers there is an extruder 52 which extrudes on the belt 28B a layer of cream 54 with a thickness of about 4 mm, so that the layer of bread 28A lays down on the layer of cream 54, the the latter thus joins together the two layers of bread 28A, 28B by adhesion. Immediately downstream of the discharge end of the conveyor 48 there is a longitudinal cutting unit 56 (fig. 7) comprising a grooved table 58 (on which the «laminate» 28A-54-28B advances) and a plurality of circular blades 60 identical to each other, keyed onto a fixed rotating common shaft 62. The mutual axial distance between the blades 60 is 3 cm, whereby the aforementioned laminate is cut longitudinally into twenty-six parallel bars and its lateral edges are trimmed by the extreme blades of the blade system 60. Immediately downstream of the table 58 there is a transversal cutter, comprising for example a circular blade 64 keyed on a rotating shaft 66. At every 5 cm of advancement of the laminate the shaft 66 performs a fast translation stroke transversely to the laminate, so a tart is cut from each bar of the laminate 68 which falls on a transverse conveyor belt 70. It will be noted that the components of the cupcake 68 in fig. 7 have been indicated with the same reference numbers used in fig. 3. Thus about 1400 cupcakes are obtained per minute which are transported from the belt 70 to a station (not shown) with melted chocolate coating containing at least 30% by weight of edible fat. The coating is preferably carried out by spraying, on a mesh conveyor belt, in a manner similar to the manufacture of biscuits covered with

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chocolate. The cupcakes equipped with a chocolate coating 12 (fig. 3) are then cooled and packaged in the wrapper 18 according to the criteria known per se.

To obtain a cupcake of the type illustrated in fig. 2 (without cream layer), the two bread strips 28A, 28B 5

of fig. 6 are not joined together, but, after the impregnation with liquor, each of them is cut separates

in blocks 14 (fig. 2) which are then covered with chocolate.

The cupcakes can be stored for several months (at least 6) without altering the flavor and consistency. The bread retains the imbibition liqueur surprisingly effectively even when, as sometimes happens, the chocolate coating 12 is not airtight.

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Claims (11)

621047 1. Process for the manufacture of a pastry product, characterized by the operations of: (i) form a bread dough of wheat flour, sugar, natural yeast, proteins added to water, in which: - the added proteins amount to 20-30% of the weight of the flour, - y3 up to y3 of the added proteins are made up of gluten, partly vital and partly devitalized, - the devitalized gluten content is from V0 to% of the added proteins; (ii) raising the said dough in a thin layer, with an initial thickness not exceeding 1 cm, up to a value from 40% to 60% of the full leavening capacity; (iii) baking the leavened dough in the oven; (iv) impregnating the carpet of sweet bread thus obtained with a sugar alcoholic aqueous liqueur in a proportion of at least 1 part by weight of liqueur per 1 part by weight of the bread, to thus provide at least 35 cc of ethyl alcohol and at least 25 g of sugar for every 100 g of bread, said sugar being made up of sucrose and / or glucose; (v) cutting the impregnated carpet into slices, and (vi) coating the slices with melted chocolate containing at least 30% by weight of edible fat. 2. Process according to claim 1, wherein the natural yeast is brewer's yeast. 2 The method of claim 1, wherein the added proteins not made up of gluten comprise egg yolk proteins and milk proteins. Method according to claims 1 and 3, wherein the milk proteins are used in the form of powdered milk albumin and in the form of skimmed milk powder. Method according to claims from 1 to 4, wherein the dough substantially has the specific composition according to claims from 1 to 4. 6. Process according to claim 1, wherein step (IV) is carried out by splitting said bread mat in two, sprinkling the two layers of bread obtained from the splitting separately with liqueur and recomposing the bread mat with the interposition of a layer of cream between the two layers of bread. 7. Process according to claim 1, in which the dough layer is turned over several times during the leavening. Process according to claim 1, wherein the baking operation is carried out first by external heating until practically complete baking, and subsequently by dielectric heating at reduced temperature until the moisture content of the bread thus treated is reduced to a value not greater than 21% by weight. Method according to claims 1 and 8, wherein the temperature of the bread during dielectric heating is from 100 to 110 ° C. 10. Process according to claims 1, 8 and 9, wherein said temperature is from 102 ° to 105 ° C. 11. Process according to claims 1 and 8, in which the dielectric heating is preceded by an operation of piercing the skin of the baked bread with external heating.