GB2290448A

GB2290448A - Automatic nan bread production process

Info

Publication number: GB2290448A
Application number: GB9412564A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mohammed Hossain Rezaei
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-06-22
Filing date: 1994-06-22
Publication date: 1996-01-03
Also published as: GB9412564D0

Abstract

The automatic nan bread production process is comprised of standard mixer, divider moulder and proving apparatus which dispense dough balls of consistent size and weight and dusted with flour (4) onto a travelling conveyor belt through a graduating gauge roller / conveyor (5), through a series of gauge rollers (6) (7) to achieve an authentic tear shaped piece of dough of the desired length and width and thickness. An oiling station (8) is provided to coat evenly each piece of dough prior to baking. A zoned travelling oven (9), then bakes the bread in a specific manner with respect to time through the oven, temperature through the oven and direction and type of heat used to bake dough within the oven. A cooling room then allows the baked bread to be cooled to the desired ambient temperature for packing. <IMAGE>

Description

A UTOMA TIC NAN / SPECIALITY FLA T BREAD PRODUCTION PROCESS This invention relates to an automatic nan /specialityflat bread production process.

Nan (or Naan as it is also known) is a leavened bread which originates from the North of India Traditionally Nan is baked in dome shaped clay tandoors (ovens) often with the dough being mixed and left to rise for a long time, often overnight Once risen it is kneaded and pulled apart into small pieces. The baker would then take a piece of dough and slap it between the palms of his hands so that it became an oval shape, thicker at the edges than in the middle. Once formed the dough would then be placed on the inside wall of the tan door. Here, because of the heat of the oven, it would stick as it baked over thefir After afew minutes cooking, the nan would be slightly risen and light brown. The outer parts would be soft and the centre part crisp.

Obviously such a process to produce a large volume of nan bread would be heavily labour and time intensive In order to produce nan bread commercially a high degree of automation is required, which leads to the following submission for an automatic nan / speciality flat bread production process.

According to the present invention there is provided an automatic nan / speciality flat bread production process comprising a mixer, divider moulder, dough ball prover, flour duster, gradual dough flattener, a second individual gauge roller, a further set of three gauge rollers for the purpose of tailing, an oiling station, a unique temperature zoned travelling oven, and a cooling conveyor facility.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying flow chart in which: Figure 1 - Shows the automatic nan / speciality flat bread production process.

Referring to the flow chart the automatic process comprises a mixer(1), divider moulder(2), an overhead prover(3) to condition the balls of dough, a flour duster(4) to lightly dust the dough balls with flour to prevent adhesion to the gauge rollers, a gradual dough flaffener(5) to gradually reduce the size of the balls of dough, an individual gauge roller(6) to reduce the dough thickness to an even height, a set of three gauge rollers(7) fo achieve the desired tear shape, length and height of the final nan / speciality flat bread, an oiling station(8) comprising an under belt reservoir(8.1) and an over line oil vat with a coating facility(8.2), an air knife(8.3) to remove excess oil, a skimming muslin cloth(8.4) to evenly disperse the oil over the top surface ofthe dough, a temperature zoned travelling oven(9) to bake the bread in a specific manner at different points in the oven to achieve the desired texture and appearance of the bread required, a cooling room with controlled temperature facilities and open weaved mesh conveyor belts.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 An automatic nan I speciality bread production process comprising equipment in the form of a mixer, divider moulder and very long overhead prover, modified to do a particular job, flour duster, graduated gauge roller I conveyors, a unique zoned travelling oven, and a cooling facility.

2 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in Claim 1, wherein mixer and divider moulder mean apparatus for mixing and then dividing large amounts of dough mix into small individual balls of dough consistent in size and weight.

3 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2, wherein overhead prover means an apparatus consisting of individual suspended pockets in which balls of dough are allowed to develop in accordance with the principals of bread making whilst continuing to be part of a continuous moving process.

4 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein flour duster means an apparatus for lightly coating the proven balls of dough with flour in order to prevent the dough sticking to the gauge rollers at the following stages of the process.

5 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein graduated gauge roller / conveyor consists of a horizontal belt on which the proven dough balls travel under an off-set belt section above the first belt which gradually reduces the height of the proven dough balls over a specific length of the belt.

6 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein gauge rollers mean pairs of parallel stainless steel rollers set across the width of the travelling belt which can be adjusted to achieve the desired length, thickness, shape and authentic tail of the dough required in conjunction with the speed of the travelling belt and the rollers themselves.

7 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein oiling station means the transfer of pinned dough onto a mesh belt for the purpose of coating the top surface with oil completely and evenly and removing any excess oil.

8 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein the zoned travelling oven refers to a uniquely designed oven that bakes the dough travelling through the oven at varying degrees of temperature for different lengths of time from varying directions, either from above or underneath, using conducted or radiant heat, in order to achieve the desired quality and appearance of a hand made nan, but through an automated process.

9 An automatic nan / speciality bread production process as claimed in the above Claims, wherein the cooling facility is an isolated room maintained at a set temperature to cool the post oven bread, consisting of open weave mesh conveyor belts which allow the heat to disperse from the freshly baked bread.

10 An automatic nan I speciality bread production process substantially as described herein with reference to figure 1 of the accompanying flow diagram.