IES20080737A2

IES20080737A2 - A method for manufacturing a snack food product

Info

Publication number: IES20080737A2
Application number: IE20080737A
Authority: IE
Inventors: John Donnelly; Raymond Coyle
Original assignee: Largo Foods Intellectual Prope
Priority date: 2007-09-12
Filing date: 2008-09-11
Publication date: 2009-02-04
Also published as: IE20080740A1; GB2452837A; GB0816622D0

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a pita bake product comprises preparing a pita dough, rolling and sheeting the pita dough thus formed, cutting the pita dough elongate strips, proving the pita dough strips, and partially cooking the pita dough strips to form pita bread strips having a moisture content of from 25 percent to 30 percent by weight. The pita bread strips are cut into desired pita shapes, the pita shapes are chilled, then pre-oiled and cooked dried. The pita shapes are oiled and flavoured and then packaged into a shelf-ready pack.

Description

This invention relates to the manufacture of pita bakes which is pita bread cut into small pieces which are dried and flavoured to provide a snack food.

There are several difficulties involved in manufacturing pita bakes on a large 10 scale. One of the difficulties is to balance the organoleptic properties of the product while at the same time ensuring that the products are not so brittle that they further break up in packaging.

This invention is directed towards providing a manufacturing method which will 15 address at least some of these issues.

Statements of Invention According to the invention there is provided a method for manufacturing a pita bake product comprising the steps of :preparing a pita dough; rolling and sheeting the pita dough thus formed; cutting the pita dough into elongate strips; proving the pita dough strips; partially cooking the pita dough strips to form pita bread strips having a moisture content of from 25% to 30% by weight; cutting the pita bread strips into desired pita shapes; β°?37 chilling the pita shapes; pre-oiling the pita shapes; cooking/drying the pita shapes; oiling and flavouring the pita shapes, and packaging a plurality of the pita shapes into a package.

In one embodiment the pita shapes are pre-oiled with a vegetable oil having a high oleic content. The oil is preferably a sunflower oil having a high oleic content. Preferably the oil contains an anti-oxidant.

In one embodiment during pre-oiling oil in an amount of less than 6% by weight, preferably about 5% by weight of the pita shapes is added.

The pre-oiled pita shapes are preferably dried in a plurality of stages. The pita shapes may be dried in a first stage at a temperature of about 130°C. The pita shapes after first stage drying may be browned at a temperature of about 170°C in a second stage. The pita shapes after browning may be further dried at a temperature of about 130°C in a third stage.

In one embodiment during final oiling and flavouring of the pita bakes oil in an amount of less than 5% by weight of the pita shapes is added.

The invention also provides pita bakes when manufactured by a method of the invention.

In one embodiment the pita dough strips are partially cooked to form bread strips having a moisture content of from 26% to 29% by weight. °?37 The method preferably comprises storing the chilled pita shapes, prior to preoiling.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying figure which is a block diagram of the manufacturing method of the invention.

Detailed Description A pita bread dough mixture is formed by mixing flour, yeast, salt, a dough relaxer and an antimicrobial agent. A typical recipe is given in the table below.

Ingredient % Wheat Flour 67.6 Water 30.2 Yeast 1.3 Salt 0.5 Calcium Propionate 0.1 Flour Improver 0.3 Total 100.0 Calcium propionate is used as an anti-microbial agent to minimise undesirable oil oxidation in the finished product. The dough relaxer makes the dough more manageable and facilitates formation of a thinner sheet which provides a less hard end product with less breakage.

The dough is then rolled and sheeted. The sheets of pita dough are then cut into strips which are typically 210mm x 55mm, The dough strips are proved at ambient temperature for a period of typically 15 to 18 minutes. The proved dough strips are then cooked in an oven for about 25 seconds at about 220°C. The partially cooked pita sheets are then rolled and then cut using an in-line cutting wheel into desired shapes such as trapeziums approximately 53x12x53x45mm. The pita pieces have a low moisture content of from about 25% to 30%, typically about 26% to 29% by weight. The pita pieces are chilled at a temperature of about 4°C and stored. Chilling and storing the prepared pita pieces at this stage means that the steps of the process up to this point can be carried out at one location and subsequent steps carried out at another location without adversely affecting product properties and quality.

The chilled pita pieces are pre-oiled using a vegetable oil with a high oleic content such as high oleic sunflower oil. The oil is added at a rate of less than 6% by weight of the pita pieces, generally at a rate of about 5% by weight of the pita pieces.

Pre-oiling prior to cooking improves the finished texture and reduces broken pieces.

The oil used for this purpose is high oleic sunflower oil. Standard sunflower oil has been determined to oxidize causing undesirable rancid flavours.

A natural anti-oxidant (rosemary) is added to the product to give additional protection against oxidation. The high oleic sunflower oil is blended with the anti-oxidant.

The oil is applied by spraying in a rotating drum to ensure maximum distribution of the minimum amount of oil. The oil application is via a pump with air injected into the pipe to aspirate the oil.

After pre-oiling the pita pieces are baked in a drying oven. The oven has three separate stages using a wire oven belt. In the first stage the pieces are cooked at about 130°C for about 11 seconds. In a second stage the pita pieces are cooked at about 170°C for about 5 seconds. In a third stage the pieces are browned at about *080737 130°C for about 11 seconds. There are two low temperature high time zones and one high temperature short time zone for browning. Extraction fans are used in each section to remove the moisture from the product. Relatively low baking temperatures are used to dry the product (minimum 130°C, maximum 170°C).

The dried pita pieces have a moisture content of about 1.8% Following baking oil is again applied in a rotating drum as described above using the aspirated method to allow for flavour to stick to the baked product. Flavour is applied in the same drum using a flavour lance. The oil is added in an amount of less than 5%, typically about 4.5% by weight of the pita pieces. Flavour is added in an amount of about 4% by weight of the pita pieces.

The product is packaged in packs of typical sizes from 50 grams to 150 grams. The packing is a packaging film material to produce a block bottom pack.

The pita bakes can be produced on a large scale with minimum product losses due to breakage. The pita bakes have excellent mouth feel, a light crisp texture, natural cooked colour with appealing darker bake marks from the wire oven belt, and good flavour.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in detail.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a pita bake product comprising the steps of :preparing a pita dough; rolling and sheeting the pita dough thus formed; cutting the pita dough into elongate strips; proving the pita dough strips; partially cooking the pita dough strips to form pita bread strips having a moisture content of from 25% to 30% by weight; cutting the pita bread strips into desired pita shapes; chilling the pita shapes; pre-oiling the pita shapes; cooking/drying the pita shapes; oiling and flavouring the pita shapes, and packaging a plurality of the pita shapes into a package. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pita dough strips are partially cooked to form pita bread strips having a moisture content of from 26% to 29% by weight, the method may comprise storing the chilled pita shapes, prior to pre-oiling.

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3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the pita shapes are pre-oiled with a vegetable oil having a high oleic content which may contain an anti-oxidant, and wherein during pre-oiling oil in an amount of less than 6% by weight of the pita shapes is added.

4. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 wherein the pre-oiled pita shapes are dried in a first stage at a temperature of about 130°C. wherein after the pita shapes after first stage drying are browned at a temperature of about 170°C in a second stage, and wherein the pita shapes after browning are further dried at a temperature of about 130°C in a third stage.

5. A method for manufacturing pita bakes substantially as hereinbefore described.