GB2197173A - Moulding rectangular bakery products - Google Patents

Abstract

A process of making rectangular shaped bakery products. particularly crumpets, comprises spraying with lubricant an array of rectangular shaped ring moulds arranged preferably in the form of an endless belt, placing the array on a heated surface, which preferably is the surface of an endless belt, filling the moulds with the mixture of ingredients for making the products, allowing the mixture to be converted at least partly into the products, then removing the ring moulds before completing conversion of the mixture into the products. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bakery process This invention relates to a process of making shaped bakery products, particularly but not exclusively crumpets.

Certain bakery products known as crumpets are circular objects made by forming an intimate mixture consisting essentially of flour, water, baking powder and yeast. The mixture is allowed to stand under warm conditions during which the yeast ferments and the carbon dioxide thus formed creates fissures within the mixture. The latter is then heated on a flat plate or griddle in the presence of oil until it is converted into a soft cake or crumpet.

Crumpets are required to be toasted before consumption, that is to say they are subjected to radiant heat until they become brown. Since crumpets are circular they cannot easily be toasted in conventional toasters which are generally employed for the toasting of rectangular slices of bread. Indeed if attempts are made to use them for toasting crumpets they can provide a source of danger because crumpets are not easy to extract from a toaster because of the absence of any sharp corners to grip and there is a temptation for a user of the toaster to try and extract a cooked crumpet with a pronged article- such as a table fork and expose himself to the danger of electric shock. The problems of toasting crumpets in ordinary toasters can be overcome very largely if they have a square shape.However the manufacture of square shaped crumpets introduces certain unexpected problems stemming from the difficulty in extracting partly formed crumpets from moulds used in their manufacture.

Accordingly this invention provides a process of making bakery products comprising spraying an array of rectangular shaped moulds with a lubricant bringing the array into contact with a heated surface filling each of the moulds with a mixture of ingredients for making the products heating the surface so as to at least partly convert the mixture into the products removing the moulds and completing the conversion of the mixture into the products.

This invention is illustrated but not restricted by the following drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view taken in vertical section showing schematically one form of apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view taken in vertical section of a machine for carrying out continuously the process of the invention.

In figure 1 a movable arm (1, 1') supports an array of moulds (2, 2') each mould being a square shaped ring. The number of moulds in the array can be varied although 60-72 moulds each having sides of 800-900 mm have been found very satisfactory. Arms (1, 1') are secured by hinges (3, 3') between hot plates (4, 4') and a catchment (5, 5') for lubricant in the form of edible oil which is made to discharge intermittently from spray heads (6, 6'). A laterally movable dispenser head (7) is connected to a source (not shown) of crumpet making mixture.

In operation arm (1) bearing the array of moulds (2) is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction until it is positioned horizontally over the lubricant catchment (5). Edible lubricating oil is then sprayed from spray head (6) onto the moulds. The arm is then rotated clockwise so that the array of moulds (2) rests on the hot plate (4) which is heated to about 120 C. Each of the rectangular rings has now in effect been converted into a shallow container. Dispenser head (7) then fills each mould with the crumpet making mixture. After the elapse of about 100 seconds the mixture has become converted partly into a crumpet. At this stage arm (1) is rotated once more in an anti-clockwise direction. The partly formed crumpets adhere to the hot plate and as a consequence rotation of the arm results in a separation of the partly formed crumpets and the moulds.The former are then turned upsidedown on the hot plate manually with a spatula and the heating continued until the formation of the crumpet has been completed.

When the dispenser (7) has filled moulds (2) it is moved in a reverse direction so that it can be used to fill moulds (2') in a mirror image part of the apparatus where a similar cycle of operation is carried out.

In figure 2 an endless belt (1) comprises a moving array of moulds in the shape of square rings connected together for relative movement. The belt passes round driving wheels (2 & 3) and idler wheels (4 & 5). Located between wheels (2 & 3) is a head (6) for spraying lubricant.

The belt (1) leaves wheel (3) and moves into an insulated heated tunnel (7) under the mouth of a dispenser (8) which fills a row of moulds with mixture for making crumpets. The number of moulds in each row can be varied. However in general six, eight or ten are generaliy very satisfactory. The dispenser (8) is supplied with the mixture from a reservoir (9) and is controlled from panel (10). As belt (1) enters the tunnel (7) it contacts a steel belt (11) which passes round a pair of drums (not shown). The space between two parts of the belt which are moving in opposite directions to one another is heated by a single enclosed 'blown' gas burner (12) controlled by panel (13). The hot gases are directed to the underside surface of the belt by a baffle (15) and ensure that the belt is maintained sufficiently hot to convert the mixture at least partly into crumpets.The temperature of the belt is monitored by sensor (16) and relayed back to main control consul (17). A variable speed control (14) controls the total machine speed including the speeds of the belts. The partially formed crumpets pass under a double headed grill (18) responsive to toaster controls (19) and toaster and grill burner controls (20) before being removed from belt (11) by crumpet removal scraper (21). The supply of oil for use in the process is controlled by panel (24).

In use the belt (1) is maintained under tension by passing under tensioning head (22) moves round wheel (2) past head (6) where the interior walls of the moulds and especially their corners are covered thoroughly with lubricant In order to ensure this the head is provided with a jet which rotates and projects lubricant into the corners of the mould. As the belt (1) moves round and past wheel (3) it meets and contacts steel sheet belt (11) which effectively provides each rectangular ring mould with a bottom and thereby form a small shallow container each of which is then filled with the crumpet mixture. Since the bottom of the container is heated by hot gases discharging from blower heater (12) the bottom of the crumpet mixture becomes converted into crumpet whilst the upper parts are dried by passage through the heated tunnel (7).As the two belts advance through the machine the cooking and drying of the crumpets progresses until position (23) is reached when the two belts separate. However because of the thoroughness of the lubricant of the moulds the partially cooked crumpets remain adhereing to the belt (11) and are carried along through the double headed grill (18) after which they are removed from the belt by the scraper (21).

The composition of the crumpet making mixture can be varied . One mixture which has been found to give satisfactory results comprises the following: Salt 2 ibs 900 gms Baking Powder 1.5 ibs 675 gms Yeast 1.5 Ibs 675 gms Lecitan 6 oz 175 gms Bloomoist 2 oz 56 gms Teacake Flour 70 lbs 32 kgms Water 42 litres Whilst the present invention is directed mainly to shaped crumpets and a process of making them the principle of this invention can be applied to the making of other forms of bakery products.

Claims (9)

1. A process of making bakery products comprising spraying an array of rectangular shaped moulds with a lubricant bringing the array into contact with a heated surface filling each of the moulds with a mixture of ingredients for making the products heating the surface so as to at least partly convert the mixture into the products removing the moulds and completing the conversion of the mixture into the products.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein the rectangular shaped moulds comprise an array of rectangular shaped rings connected together for relative movement to form an endless belt.

3. A process according to either of claims 1 or 2 wherein the spraying of lubricant is carried out with a spray device which moves during the spraying operation.

4. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the shape of the moulds is square.

5. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the surface is the surface of an endless belt which is heated.

6. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the rectangular shaped rings are removed from the partly formed products and moving the partly formed products through a head grill to complete the formation of the products.

7. a process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bakery products are crumpets.

8. Processes for making bakery products as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

9. Processes for making bakery products as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the drawings.