GB2276073A

GB2276073A - Apparatus for manufacturing baked food products

Info

Publication number: GB2276073A
Application number: GB9305253A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Craig; Krissy Elizabeth Craig
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-03-15
Filing date: 1993-03-15
Publication date: 1994-09-21
Also published as: GB9305253D0

Abstract

A baking tray has a plurality of baking areas each defined by a closed ridge (3) which acts as a cutter for a sheet of pastry placed on top of the baking tray and rolled down. The remainder of the sheet is pulled away to leave the individual sections in situ ready for baking, optionally after further ingredients have been placed on each section. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BAKED FOOD PRODUCTS This invention relates apparatus for manufacturing baked food products, particularly to the manufacture of canapes, petit fours and similar edible products, each of which consists of a shaped base on or in which is provided a suitable filling.

Such food products are traditionally made by hand and the shaped base members are formed by cutting individual shapes, e.g. from a sheet of uncooked pastry. The shapes are then laid on a suitable baking sheet (if flat products are desired), or placed on a suitable contoured support for baking, and conformed to that support. Thus, for making canapes, a variety of individual shaped dishes is available, to produce various usually standard shapes of canape, and after placing a piece of pastry in each dish a number of dishes, e.g. twenty or thirty, are set out on a flat baking tray. Alternatively, particularly for the manufacture of tarts, the pieces of cut out pastry may be assembled on a baking tray with correspondingly shaped depressions therein.After such assembly, and if appropriate addition of other ingredients such as fillings, the baking tray is placed in an oven and heated to cook the pastry and produce the final items. By the term baking sheet or tray used herein is meant a plain or contoured sheet suitable for acting as a support for a food product during baking and capable of withstanding a temperature of 3000C without deterioration.

Cutting the individual shapes and placing them in a position for baking is time consuming and requires substantial manual dexterity if it is to be done efficiently, particularly in the case of canapes and petit four made using individual canape or petit four dishes.

According to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided cooking apparatus comprising a baking sheet or tray having on one surface thereof a plurality of closed loop ridges, the apexes of the ridges all being substantially coplanar.

The sheet may be essentially flat save for the plurality closed loop ridges or there may be depressions within some or each closed loop. The walls of any depression may be plain or, e.g., fluted to provide an attractive external relief pattern on the final item.

The closed loop may be of any convenient shape or size, for example square, rectangular, triangular, circular, oval, barquette, elliptical or diamond shaped, in all cases the shape being determined by the final shape of the desired cooked item, and taking into account the deformation which may take place as the sheet of flexible material of outer contour defined by the closed loop, is pressed down into any depressed area present within the loop. The size of the loop and any depressed area within it may be as desired, having regard to the desired size of the final cooked product. Any given apparatus may be designed to provide a plurality of finished cooked items all of the same general size and of the same or varied shapes or different sizes may be provided for in the same apparatus.

The closed loop ridges are preferably formed integrally with the remainder of the sheet and are preferably formed with an internal angle of between 40 and 900, and an apex height 3 to 6 mm above the surrounding surface of the baking sheet. Conveniently the sheet is formed by pressing from sheet metal using a suitable mating forming tool and die.

In use, a sheet of flexible material which when cooked will form the base for the food product, is laid over the coplanar tops of the ridges. Pressure is then applied to the sheet of material to force the ridges into it e.g.

with uncooked pastry, by means of a rolling pin or the like and thus cause the sheet of material to separate into a plurality of individual base shapes and a sheet remainder full of holes. The sheet remainder may then be stripped away from the baking sheet to leave the individual units ready for baking, optionally after pressing into depressions in the sheet and provision of a suitable filling.

The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of a baking sheet in accordance with the present invention and Figure 2 is a cross section on an enlarged scale along the lines A-A in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, a sheet formed by pressing sheet metal has a plurality of depressions 2, each of which is surrounded by a raised rib or ridge 3, the upper edges of all of the ribs or ridges 3 being essentially coplanar.

In use, a sheet of uncooked pastry is laid across the tops of ridges 3 and rolled down with a rolling pin. The ridges 3 cut through the pastry leaving individual shapes which fall into the depressions. The remainder of the sheet is simply peeled away and can be folded and reformed into another imperforate sheet of pastry for like processing. The baking sheet can simply be transferred to an oven and the individual bases baked as such or they may have other food ingredients assembled on them prior to baking. The baking sheet itself may be treated if necessary prior to laying the sheet of uncooked pastry thereon, e.g. by brushing the individual areas each surrounded by a ridge 3 with fat and coating with flour. Alternatively the sheet may have a conventional "non-stick" finish, e.g., of a polytetrafluoroethylene coating.

As can be easily appreciated, the use of the present invention eliminates the use of individual hand-held cutters and does not then require the physical manipulation of the individually cut sections to place them into little individual dishes (for canapes or petit fours) or assembling the sections or dishes containing them on an appropriate baking tray.

Claims

1. Cooking apparatus comprising a baking sheet or a tray having on one surface thereof a plurality of closed loop ridges, the apexes of the ridges all being substantially coplanar.

2. Cooking apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein within some or each of the closed loop ridges there are depressions.

3. Cooking apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the closed loop ridges are of varied shapes or different sizes.

4. Cooking apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the closed loop ridges are formed integrally with the remainder of the sheet and have an internal angle of between 40 and 900.

5. Cooking apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the apex height of the closed loop ridges above the surrounding surface of the baking sheet is 3 to 6 mm.

6. Cooking apparatus according to any one of the preceding Claims and integrally formed by pressing from sheet metal.

7. Cooking apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.